TREACHERY AT HAWARI 181 



shall not move from here till orders come from Jof!" 

 they shouted. "We have been warned about you. We 

 know. No strangers shall come to our country. They 

 die quickly here!" Hassanein suddenly had one of his 

 inspirations. "You wish to show that you are brave and 

 will defend your country to the last, but you should 

 behave thus to strangers, not to the guests of the 

 Sayed!" he said angrily. They were puzzled. They 

 expected us to be frightened and impressed. Instead, 

 we were angrier than they. If you can make an Arab 

 talk he generally forgets to fire. 



While loudly arguing we led the way to the camp 

 and soon there was a large "megliss" seated outside our 

 tent. Some Tebus joined the Zouias. They were coal- 

 black like the Sudani slaves, but with more refined and 

 intelligent faces. Most of them do not talk Arabic, but 

 their head man explained the situation to them and to 

 our surprise they ranged themselves on our side. "The 

 guests of the Sayed are welcome to our country," they 

 said. The Zouias, headed by Bu Badr, were angrier than 

 ever. "Why does not a messenger come from Jof?" 

 they asked. "Sidi Abdullah went last night and he 

 promised to send back news. We told him you should 

 not follow until permission came." 



We looked blanky at each other. We had not told 

 the guide to send back a messenger, and he had breathed 

 no word to us of such intention, nor of his tribesmen's 

 threats. "It is a plot," said I grimly. "Yes, but 



where, why ?" murmured Hassanein vaguely. 



Mohammed leaned forward triumphantly. His eyes 

 shone, his voice was strong. I think in that moment he 

 recovered his self-respect and we our old ally. "I under- 

 stand it all," he cried. "Wallahi! I will never stroke 

 my beard again till I have settled with Abdullah who has 

 betrayed us. You men of Hawari, you are fools and you 



