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JOURNEY FROM 
his story of the robbers to deter them from accompanying us any 
farther ; for in the event of our being surprised and overpowered, 
they would themselves have lost their camels as well as all they had 
with them. Whether this story, which the Dhbbah had taken care 
to have generally circulated, really frightened the men of Mesurata, 
or whether they thought it imprudent to make an enemy of the old 
Shekh at a distance from their own country, and in a part of his own, 
did not very clearly appear ; but they soon after came to us, and de- 
clined proceeding any farther, alleging, at the same time, that Shekh 
Mahommed had already engaged camels for us from his own people in 
the neighbourhood, and that we should therefore have no occasion for 
theirs. We told them that we had as yet made no bargain with the 
Ddbbah, and that although we might wish to give him an opportunity, 
as our friend and conductor, of making a fair profit of his camels, we 
should certainly not accept them if we found that his demands were 
unreasonable. Finding, however, that the men were really unwilling 
to go on, under any circumstances, though they would not state pre- 
cisely the grounds of their objection, we settled our accounts with 
them, giving each a few piastres in addition to what had been 
agreed for, as an acknowledgment of their good behaviour, and they 
shortly after set out on their return to Mesurata. Before their 
departure, however, we sent for Shekh Mahommed, and told him the 
number of camels we should have occasion for ; stating, at the same 
time, the sum we intended to pay him for them, to which, after some 
little parley, he consented. The next morning he made his appear- 
ance in our tent, and said that the camels would be brought to us 
