ADVENTURE WITH THE SAMARITANS. 
351 
he cast over his saddle, then mounted Syed Sulemin, dashed 
spurs into the sides of that noble animal, and led the way 
down the hill with uncommon celerity. My friends and 
myself mounted as fast as we could ; for to tell the truth we 
did not altogether like the appearance of these modern Sa¬ 
maritans, and we departed in the rear of Yusef, with a very 
ticklish sensation about the backs, as if it would be unpleas¬ 
ant to be peppered with slugs out of the long guns, with 
which some of the Arabs were armed. It took us at least 
half an hour to catch up with him; and he then told us that 
we had made a most fortunate escape ; that the rascally beg¬ 
gars at Sebustia had threatened to insult us, and that he 
(Yusef) had told them that if they did so he would not only 
cut their throats from ear to ear, but raze their village to the 
ground; in which event we might possibly find ourselves in 
difficulty with the Turkish Government upon our arrival in 
Jerusalem. This was the reason that he had compromised 
the matter—had he been alone he would never have rested 
content without their blood, but taking our interests into con¬ 
sideration, he had refrained from making an attack, and had 
ridden away hastily lest he should be provoked into it by their 
demonstrations of hostility. We were very glad that the ad¬ 
venture had turned out so well, and saw at once how pru¬ 
dently our dragoman had acted. 
