278 
A CRUSADE IN THE EAST. 
words for the space of half-an-hour. It became by that time 
perfectly furious. Yusef howled and shrieked, and spat at the 
muleteers; and the muleteers howled and shrieked, by turn, 
and then smoked. The pistol evidently was a failure ; it was 
returned to its case. The battle of words now waxing fiercer, 
Yusef lost all patience. Drawing his sword, he flourished it 
thrice over his head, shut his eyes, and rushed blindly at the 
rebels ! But there was no sign of a panic ; they stood very 
calmly while he flourished his sword around their heads, as if 
they thought the cuts and thrusts that he made at them had 
no foundation in reality. Having completely exhausted him¬ 
self by the effort, he eventually returned the sword to its scab¬ 
bard and sat down. One of the muleteers, Mustapha, was 
conspicuous for his docile temper. He was a comical old fel¬ 
low, always in a good humor, and ready to bear any amount 
of ill-treatment. NTow, in cases of difficulty, Yusef always 
ended the matter by beating Mustapha. Already he had 
beaten him several times; and in Damascus, apprehending 
trouble on the road from a growing disposition to mutiny on 
the part of the muleteers, he had provided himself with sev¬ 
eral tough sticks, to encourage discipline. In the present 
emergency, seeing Mustapha close at hand, he sprang to his 
feet, calling to Francesco to bring him his best stick, and 
seized the poor fellow by the coat. The stick came; Mus¬ 
tapha begged ; Yusef stormed ; Mustapha promised ; Yusef 
foamed and spat upon him ; Mustapha howled most piteous¬ 
ly ; Yusef raged most furiously; Mustapha called upon the 
Prophet to save him ; Yusef struck him for his impiety, in 
taking the name of the Prophet in vain. The more Mustapha 
begged and wept, the more Yusef heat him ; till, apprehen¬ 
sive of serious consequences, I called upon him sternly to de¬ 
sist, on the pain of our sublime displeasure. It was not with¬ 
out reluctance that the whipping was brought to a conclusion. 
At ten o’clock we were packed and mounted, and on our 
winding way just as if nothing had happened. Mustapha 
cracked pleasant jokes with every body, and laughed heartily 
behind Yusef’s back at the idea of the beating and shooting, 
going through a great many pantomimic motions, showing 
