574 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



day*, but the camels were all flic- camels ; they are favourite 

 camels oi' Sh'ekh t>eide ; we drove them fof tly ; the two you 

 faw at the tents are lame ; befides there were fome others 

 unfound ; there were alfo women and children." " Where 

 did that party, and their camels, go to from this ? and what 

 number of men was there with them ?" " There were about 

 three hundred camels of all forts, and about thirty men, 

 all of them fervants ; fome of them had one lance, and 

 fome of them two ; they had no fhields or other arms." 

 •' What did you intend laft night to do with my camels ?" 

 " 1 intended to have carried them, with the women and 

 child, to join the party at the Nile." " What muft have 

 become of me in that cafe ? we muft have died ?" He did 

 not anfwer. " Take care, faid I, the thing is now over, and 

 you are in my hands; take care what you fay." " Why, 

 certainly, fays he, you muft have died, you could not live, 

 you could not go anywhere elfe." " If another party had 

 found us here, in that cafe would they have flain us ?" He 

 hefitated a little, then, as if he recolled:ed himfelf,faid, "Yes, 

 furely, they murdered the Aga, and would murder any 

 body that had not a Bifliareen with them." A violent cry 

 of condemnation immediately followed. " Now attend and 

 underftand me diftindlly, faid I, for upon thefe two que- 

 ftions hangs your life : Do you know of any party of 

 Bilhareen who are foon to pafs here, or any wells to the 

 north, and in what number? and have you fent any 

 intelligence fmce laft night you faw us here ?" He anfwer- 

 ed, with more readinefs than ufual, "We have fent nobody 



anywiicre ; 



* It is not here to be underftood that the Arab defcribed the day by the 5th, but by an 

 interval of time which we knew correfponded to the 5th. 



