THE CHASE OF THE PANTHER. 11 



you may, that I can resign to you my position, I promise you 

 in exchange for the monument you otherwise would have 

 received, a perfect indifference to death which you will 

 thereafter be always ready to meet under whatever form it 

 may come. I will promise you the esteem, affection, grati- 

 tude, and more besides, of an entire people, who are always 

 hostile to others of your country and religion ; and I will 

 promise you last of all, the remembrance of scenes that will 

 make your soul to laugh, and rejuvenate your old age. 



But if you should not come back, which I should regret, 

 both on your account and my own, you may rest assured 

 that on the spot where the Arabs find your remains, 

 they will raise, not a mausoleum as with us, but a stone, on 

 which they will place a broken pot, some old iron, cannon 

 balls, and a crowd of other things which, with the child of 

 the desert, take the place of an epitaph, and signify, Here 

 died a man ! 



It is well that you learn that among the Arabs a moustache 

 and bearded chin do not make a man ; but know also, that 

 their simple epitaph, like the one I have given, has more 

 meaning than many a higher sounding eulogium, and for 

 myself I desire none other. 



Please let this digression serve to relieve the monotony of 

 the narrative I have left, and I will now resume. 



The old Shiek Taieb, at first insisted that I should return 

 to the douar, and then that he should leave with me some 

 of his men, who judging from the expression of their counte- 

 nances as he spoke, seemed but little anxious to adopt the 

 suggestion. 



