MAHOMET AND THE MOUNTAIN. 
213 
away.” This was all very fair, apparently, hut when we 
had “sent them away” they wouldn't go , — affecting not to 
understand us ; and so this time we had gone on shore 
determined to give the first fellow who couldn’t under- 
stand our signs to return, a good kicking, and, if neces- 
sary, a thumping besides. The opportunity for resorting 
to this practical mode of explanation soon presented itself. 
We had not passed the spy -house more than a hundred 
yards, when a couple of two-sworded officers were ob- 
sen^ed to be following us, and before walking another 
hundred they were within speaking-distance. We 
stopped to let them come up, but they also came to a 
halt : it was evidently a case of “ Mahomet and the 
mountain,” and so Mahomet boldly returned to the 
mountain. 
This action on the part of the prophet was evidently 
regarded in a threatening light by the two who composed 
the mountain: they looked just like over-curious ser- 
vants detected by their master in the act of eavesdrop- 
ping. 
Mahomet took half of the mountain by the shoulders, 
caused him to “right-about face,” and then made signs 
that we were going north, and that they, the mountain, 
were expected to move off in a southerly direction. This 
they “couldn’t understand” through the medium of the 
senses of sight and hearing, and so Mahomet resorted to 
his heav}^ boot and the half-mountain’s sense of feeling. 
I never saw such a kick in my previous life, and but one 
subsequently that at all approached it. It caused one- 
half of the mountain to tremble to his very base and 
then take up his uneven flight for the friendly shelter of 
