cii. xviii.] A Conversation in Temple of Situ. 51 



They did not tell him at once what it was about, 

 but by a little manoeuvring, for it is always a 

 difficult thino; to manao;e a tete-d-tete amono; these 

 sociable people, he got Mohammed alone, under 

 pretext of going to see the Temple of the Sun. 

 This stands inside the present town, and is used as 

 a stable ; and by good luck he and Mohammed were 

 allowed to go away to look at it unattended by any 

 of the busybodies who generally dog one's steps. 

 When they had climbed to the top of the l;»uilding 

 and were out of all earshot, Wilfrid spoke seriously 

 to Mohammed, and told him that we were resolved 

 at all hazards to go to Jedaan, that we had left 

 Deyr with no other purpose than to do so, and that 

 if he, Mohammed, would not go Avith us there, we 

 must look out for somebody else that would. He 

 added, ^^'hich was true, that we had taken a fancy 

 to himself, and that if he would do us this service 

 we should consider him as our brother. Lastly, he 

 clinched the argument with the promise of an 

 immense present, twenty mej idles (nearly 4/.) on 

 the day that we should set foot in Jedaan's tent. 

 I don't know which part of the argument con- 

 vinced him, but Mohammed's manner, Wilfrid says, 

 changed at once, and he promised that henceforth 

 he was our servant, to do what we should tell him, 

 and as a proof of his sincerity, informed Wilfrid 

 that the ]\ludir's letter had contained instructions 

 from Huseyn to send us on forthwith to Damascus. 

 " But," he added, " Deyr is a long way off, and we 



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