A REAL ARAB. 99 



could neither make it out with a glass or the naked eye, and 

 one young officer expressed his belief that he saw it, but so 

 indistinctly that he could not positively declare it to be a fact. 



Upon receiving these replies, the Arab continued, in tones 

 of evident conviction, " You that have distinguished the star 

 will return from Affghanistaii safe. You that are unable to 

 observe it will never come back. The campaign will be 

 fatal to you all; and you, sir, who are in doubt whether 

 you can discern it or not, will eventually escape after great 

 hardships and sufferings, but a broken-down and crippled 

 invalid." 



My friend informed me, to his own certain knowledge, 

 that every part of this prediction was verified, and that part 

 of it relative to Lieutenant R, was the most extraor- 

 dinary, as this officer, after having been severely wounded, 

 and left for dead on the retreat from Cabul, revived 

 sufficiently to make his way to Jellabad, where he partially 

 recovered from his wounds, but remained, as the Arab had 

 predicted, an invalided cripple for the remainder of his 

 existence. 



It is impossible to account for this and similar coincidences, 

 although I have the most perfect faith in the truth of the 

 story. If the Arabs are good prophets, they are also most 

 accomplished horse-dealers, and one of the most curious 

 sights at Bombay was, and I dare say is, the disembarkation 

 of the cargo of a horse " dhow" from Muscat, on the opposite 

 coast of Arabia. The animals on their arrival appear perfect 

 skeletons, and instead of the round, sleek, and beautifully 

 proportioned Arab, your eye rests upon an object you would 

 consider scarcely fit for the dogs, or other nameless and 

 multifarious purposes that the carcase of that noble animal 

 the horse is ultimately devoted to. For such apparent 

 valueless and wretched steeds, as a stranger would consider 

 them at first sight, he would, however, be surprised to hear 



H2 



