336 
A CRUSADE IN THE EAST. 
be seen for miles. Eventually our enthusiasm was cooling 
down in the chilling air, and we began to despair of seeing 
any more gazelles, when a thumping sound struck upon our 
ears. It was sudden and distinct, almost like a shock of 
galvanism. Per Baccho ! what a glorious sight ! Four 
splendid gazelles, not fifty yards off, in the act of bounding 
away! Shoot ’em ! Catch ’em ! Stop ’em, somebody ! 0 
Jupiter ! what splendid animals ! There was a sudden pause, 
and then a shout of excitement from the whole party, and away 
dashed every body, shouting at the utmost power of his lungs, 
and shooting to the extreme extent of his powder and fire-arms. 
The mules, heavily laden as they were with baggage and the 
additional weight of the muleteers who were asleep on top, 
pricked up their ears and began to caper about, till, no longer 
able to control their enthusiasm, they started off to join the 
chase. The muleteers were thrown from the baggage, and 
were suddenly waked up by finding themselves on their 
heads; when jumping to their feet they ran after the mules 
as fast as they could, shouting at the top of their voices, like 
the rest of us. It is not to be supposed that Tokina, the ass, 
was proof against all this. At the very first intimation of a 
general stampede, he dropped down on his head, and deposited 
Francesco, the boy, in a mud-hole, and then springing up 
again, ran off toward Nazareth with his tail straight out, his 
ears pointed forward, and his mouth wide open, braying in 
the most hysterical and frightful manner. Thereupon Fran¬ 
cesco likewise started off at full speed, shouting madly for 
somebody to stop the ass; so that there was not a single living 
object in the party, two-legged or four-legged, that was not 
chasing something. It was a general chase all round, of the 
most exciting character, for which it must be admitted some 
of us were altogether unprepared. The mules evidently were 
not in a proper condition to undertake a rapid and tortuous 
run of this kind ; for the baggage being carelessly fastened 
to their backs by means of various small cords, soon began to 
slip off on either side, and to hang dangling underneath in a 
way that was not only inconvenient to the mules themselves, 
but extremely perilous to our cooking utensils and stock of 
