226 
A CEUSADE IN THE EAST. 
Iresh courage, and commenced pulling cautiously at the door. 
It opened a little way ; another pull ; it opened a little more ; 
another yet—it creaked—it creaked dreadfully ! Quick as 
lightning Yusef pushed it back, bolted it, covered himself up 
in his blankets, and commenced snoring again ; but there was 
evidently a commotion in the other room. The voice of a man 
shouted something fiercely—it was in Arabic—but doubtless 
it was—Who’s there! Under some circumstances it is diffi¬ 
cult to answer such a question; under the present circum¬ 
stances Yusef considered it impossible; he only snored the 
louder, and heard the less. There is no doubt that the 
owner of the voice labored under the impression that some of 
us intended to rob him, for I heard him, both in my sleep 
and in my waking hours throughout the remainder of the 
night stumbling uneasily about the room. In the morning, 
Yusef, who had snored to the best of my belief without stop¬ 
ping from the moment he had so suddenly covered himself up 
in the blankets, set to work and beat the muleteers; but not 
with his accustomed alacrity. His mind was depressed, and 
he looked so little refreshed by balmy slumber that I was in¬ 
duced to ask him what was the matter. He evinced some 
little confusion at first; but quickly rallying, stated that he 
had suffered from a bad dream ; that he dreamt he saw a 
lion; and the lion was going to attack us; that he was un¬ 
armed at the time, but inspired by his courage, which never 
forsook him in any emergency, he crept toward the lion in 
the hope of getting him by the mane and choking him; that 
just as he was about to put the lion to death, some invisible 
spirits pulled him back, and so they tormented him every 
time he got near to his foe, throughout the entire night. 
It was certainly an extraordinary dream. Possibly Yusef 
really dreamt it. I hope so; many stranger dreams than that 
have been dreamt; but I have never been able to rid my 
mind of the impression that the lion was very pretty, and not 
at all ferocious. 
