20 Bedoidn Tribes of the Euphrates, [en. xvn, 



the proverb which forbids one saying, " Fountain, 

 I will never drink of thy waters again," I think w^e 

 both made a mental resolution to sit at the Pasha's 

 table no more. 



Time however, precious time, had been wasted ; 

 and, when we joined our camels at the appointed 

 place, there was no Melied with them. What has 

 become of him we do not know ; but we think he 

 must have been scared away by the sight of two 

 soldiers, Avhom Huseyn has after all thought fit 

 to send after us. This has interfered sadly with 

 Wilfrid's peace of mind, and made him very bitter 

 against Turkish ways and Turkish authority, indeed 

 against authority of any kind, for in the desert, if 

 anywhere, one feels that freedom is a right. So, 

 although the sky overhead was blue and the sun 

 shone, we marched on in dogged silence, making 

 ourselves as disagreeable as we possibly could to 

 the poor soldiers, who, I dare say, are quite as un- 

 happy at having to do their duty as we are to be 

 the cause of it. 



Hanna, too, is in tlie dumps at having lost sight 

 of the Euphrates and at this new wilfulness of ours 

 in going out he knows not whither. Ferhan, honest 

 man that he is, is stolidly indifferent where he goes, 

 so long as his camels are fed and he is allowed to 

 do his duty hj them. Ali, the cavass, is no longer 

 with us ; he could not resist the glory of going 

 back to Bagdad in the Valy's suite, and bade us 

 good-bye some days ago. The Jelaas boy is the 



