THE BATTLE OF THE MULETEERS. 
279 
how people died when they were shot, and, when they were 
not shot, how they were beaten with a stick, and how they 
wept at the pain thereof. 
Meantime Yusef entertained us with some remarkable in¬ 
stances of his courage, touching incidentally upon the affair 
of the Djereed, in which he had killed four men and disa¬ 
bled six for life—the best men that could be produced by the 
great Prince of Lebanon. He also pointed out the precise 
spot where he had recently shot a dead man under the most 
singular and appalling circumstanced. It seemed that in 
returning to Damascus, after leaving a party of travelers at 
Jerusalem, he had occasion to pass this way in the middle of 
the night, which was the time he usually chose for traveling 
when alone, as it increased the danger of robbers. He knew 
there were robbers waiting for him here, and in order to give 
them notice of his approach he was singing merrily as he 
rode along. All at once he saw a very tall man, as he 
thought, standing under an olive tree, with his face turned 
up, looking at the moon. “ Ho, villain!” shouted our travel¬ 
er, “is it me you want ? Fall down on your knees, wretch, 
and beg for mercy. Behold ! I am Yusef Badra, the destroyer 
of robbers!” The man instead of falling upon his knees 
seemed to grow taller as the destroyer of robbers approached. 
“ Fool, that you are !” cried Yusef, riding up still closer and 
drawing his pistols ; “ don’t you know I never miss killing 
when I shoot.” Still the man made no reply. “ Then die! 
die like a dog!” Saying which Yusef fired six times, and 
each time he heard a ball strike. “ Oho!” said he, perceiving 
that the man only moved a little without falling down or 
uttering a single groan, “ you are the devil; I’m very glad 
to see you, old gentleman! Yusef Badra is not afraid of the 
devil, or any body else ; besides, we have a small account to 
settle.” Upon which, drawing his sword, he urged his fright¬ 
ened horse up to the spot and ran the mysterious stranger 
clean through the body. It was not until then that he dis¬ 
covered his mistake. He had shot and pierced through the 
body a dead man! The corpse was hung to a branch of the 
tree by the neck, and the feet, being in the shade, were invis- 
