462 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. LXVTI 
versaries were so busy, that, in the night of the 9th, 
owing to the arrival of a party of Tawarek, who were 
well known not to be friendly disposed towards him, he 
was so intimidated, that at two o'clock in the morning 
he himself came to my house, rousing us from our 
sleep and requesting us most urgently to keep watch, 
as he was afraid that something was going on against 
me. We therefore kept a constant look out the whole 
night on our terrace, and seeing that the rear of our 
house was in a partial state of decay, facilitating an 
attack in that quarter, we set to work early in the 
morning repairing the wall and barricading it with 
thorny bushes. The artisans of the town were so 
afraid of the party hostile to me, who were the nominal 
rulers, that no one would undertake the task of re- 
pairing my house. However, the more intelligent 
natives of the place did all in their power to prevent 
my learned friend from leaving the town, as they felt 
sure that such a proceeding would be the commence- 
ment of troubles. The consequence was, that we 
did not get off on the 10th, although the Sheikh had 
sent his wife and part of his effects away the preced- 
ing night, and it was not till a little before noon the 
following day that we actually left the town. 
