340 
A CRUSADE IN THE EAST. 
baggage and went our way, greatly dejected in spirits. We 
never saw either the chickens or gazelles again. 
The unhappy issue of this adventure had a very depressing 
effect upon the whole party. We had lost a good deal of time, 
as well as chickens and cooking utensils; and, from all we 
could ascertain in regard to the prospect of getting any thing 
to eat at Djenin. or any reliable means of cooking what we 
might get, it was a very doubtful prospect indeed. There 
was every reason to apprehend that we should be compelled 
to go to bed supperless; which was by no means a pleasing 
view of the case, considering the exercise we had taken in 
our hunt after the gazelles. In consequence of this state of 
feeling, there was very little said on the subject by any body, 
except the muleteers, who, for as much as half-an-hour, did 
nothing but beat the unfortunate mules, in the hope of obtain¬ 
ing the satisfaction in that way which was properly due them 
by Saladin. But, as well as I could catch the drift of their 
conversation, both from the way in which they looked at me, 
and the violent manner in which they belabored the poor an¬ 
imals when they saw that I was composed under the circum¬ 
stances, there was not the slightest doubt, on my part, that 
their resentment was directed against myself, as the chief 
cause of all the trouble, rather than against either Saladin or 
the mules; and that being denied the privilege of relieving 
their minds upon a Howadji, they relieved them upon their 
own personal property. 
As for Saladin, I regret to s'ay, that he did not evince such 
a spirit of resignation as I expected from a horse of his great¬ 
ness of character, especially from a descendant of the renowned 
Ashrik. From the moment of being stopped in his attempt 
to get a piece out of the mule, which he had driven mad, he 
fretted and chafed in an unusual manner, as if under the in¬ 
fluence of some fierce and insatiate passion for flesh, which 
could only be appeased by a large mouthful out of some ani¬ 
mal in the party. 
The English Captain was the first to break the silence by 
any direct reference to the affair of the gazelles. He said that 
it was the most stunning circumstance within his knowledge 
