242 THE HOLY LAND. 
glass about three hundred of the rebels, sta- 
tioned in a village near the mouth of the defile 
by which we had previously proceeded. It 
Narrow ^as at this uulucky moment, while the party 
Escape of • i i i 
the Author, wcrc dcliberatuig whether to advance or retreat, 
that the author, unable to restrain the impulse 
of his feelings, most imprudently and unjustifi- 
ably punished the Arab who had caused the 
delay, by striking him. It is impossible to 
describe the confusion this occasioned. The 
Moslems, to a man, maintained that the infidel 
who had lifted his hand against one of the 
faithful should atone for the sacrilegious insult 
by his blood. The Arab, recovered from the 
shock he had sustained, sought only to gratify 
his anger by the death of his assailant. Having 
speedily charged his tophaihe, although trem- 
bling with rage to such a degree that his whole 
frame appeared to be agitated, he very deli- 
berately pointed it at the object of his revenge, 
who escaped assassination by dodging beneath 
the horses, as often as the muzzle of the piece 
was directed towards him. Finding himself 
thus frustrated in his intentions, his fury became 
ungovernable. His features, livid and convulsed, 
seemed to denote madness: no longer knowing 
what he did, he levelled his tophaihe at the 
captain of Djezzars guard, and afterwards at 
