THE BATTLE OF THE MULETEERS. 
277 
your throats from ear to ear. After that I’ll tear out your 
livers, and give them to the dogs; I’ll make mince-meat of 
your hearts, and hang your bodies up by the heels, as a warn¬ 
ing to all muleteers throughout Syria. Yea, by the beard of 
the Prophet, if that won’t do, I’ll tie you to the tail of my 
horse and drag you to Jerusalem, and when I get you there 
I’ll—no, I won’t bury you in holy ground—I’ll eat you ! By 
Allah, I’ll eat you !” This last threat was evidently made on 
the spur of the moment; it was too dreadful to be premedi¬ 
tated, and must have had its origin in the difficulty of getting 
rid of the bodies after dragging them to Jerusalem. I could 
not think that Yusef really meant to eat the muleteers ; for, 
leaving aside every moral consideration, they were the dirtiest 
set of vagabonds I ever saw, and must have been thoroughly 
saturated with smoke. However, they seemed to think a lit¬ 
tle more smoking would do them no harm; for the moment, 
Yusef turned his back and went into the khan to pack up the 
cooking utensils, they very coolly filled their pipes and began 
to smoke again, conversing at the same time with great good- 
humor. At the expiration of half-an-hour, having waited 
patiently all this time, I ventured mildly to suggest that we 
ought to be on our way, or we would never be able to reach 
Tiberias. Upon this hint Yusef became suddenly fired with 
unconquerable indignation toward the muleteers. He rushed 
furiously out of the khan, the veins swollen in his forehead, 
and rage depicted in every feature. I followed at a reasona¬ 
ble distance, thinking there would certainly be bloodshed this 
time. “ Where are they ?” he shrieked. “ Show me the ras¬ 
cals ! Ho ! Yakob ! Hassin ! Mustapha !” “ Here we are,” 
said they; and, behold, they were sitting in the same spot, 
smoking their chiboucks. “ Dogs !” cried Yusef, drawing his 
pistol, “ didn’t I tell you I’d kill you if the mules were not 
ready in ten minutes? Die, dogs, die!” But they had no 
idea of dying ; on the contrary, they rose to their feet, and 
began to expostulate with Yusef on the violence of his con¬ 
duct, which brought forth a counter expostulation from him, 
and a retort from them, and then a retort from him again, 
which brought up old scores, and the battle raged fiercely*in 
