284 BARRADUDDA. 



away, with a wrench that seemed every time to 

 dislocate his heart. It was too dark to observe the 

 expression of his countenance, but, no doubt, it 

 was dolorous in the extreme ; if I could judge 

 from his sighs and often-repeated oaths, that 

 " twenty times the value of all the good the camels 

 had received by their halt had been paid by him to 

 men, who " — here he muttered some scandal, I 

 suppose, for he did not think it expedient to 

 whisper even to me, (he was sitting close under the 

 side of my hut,) his real opinion of the Bedouins, 

 who had occasioned all the tumult. Another 

 trouble that disturbed his mind not a little, was the 

 great probability of our being obliged to pay all 

 over again in the Wahama country, the inhabitants 

 of which, he was convinced, would be all up in 

 arms, to resent the insult and injury committed 

 by us upon their heralds. 



I fell asleep at last, tired out with the excitement 

 and noise, nor did I awake the next morning, until 

 roused by Zaido and the two Allees walking away 

 with the boxes of my hut, which were the only 

 loads that had yet to be placed upon the backs of 

 the camels. 



