376 
A CEJJSADE IN THE EAST. 
The sheep for which we had paid the messenger of the Sheik 
of Jericho, forty piasters, was not roasted here by the Arab 
guard according to contract; but fortunately Yusef had pro¬ 
vided himself with a cold leg of mutton for us in Jerusalem, 
which we devoured with amazing relish after our ride, and 
he also gave us some brown bread which he had thought¬ 
fully smuggled into his bag at the Convent of St. Saba, and 
which we washed down with copious draughts of water out 
of the Jordan. While we were thus sitting on a conspic¬ 
uous part of the bank, eating our lunch, I could not but 
think that we afforded an excellent mark for any prowling 
Bedouins that might be concealed in the bushes on the other 
side ; and on that account, as well as because of my origi¬ 
nal disappointment, I sincerely wished that the river w r as as 
wide as the Ohio. Every time I looked over into the Be¬ 
douin country, I expected to see a dozen guns pointed at my 
head ; and this notion became at length so unpleasant, that 
in order to divert my thoughts from so painful a view of 
the subject, I called to Yusef, who was standing behind a tree 
not far off, priming his pistols, to come and sit down opposite 
to me, and give me a detailed history of the affair with the 
six Bedouins, whom he had slain on his last journey through 
Syria. It struck me as a little singular that he did not ex¬ 
hibit his usual alacrity in obeying this summons, especially 
on a subject so congenial to his nature ; I therefore repeated 
it with some warmth ; upon which he reluctantly left his 
station, and seated himself close behind me, when he imme¬ 
diately began to give me a rapid account of this remarkable 
affair. Finding myself unable to hear him distinctly, with 
my back turned toward him, I requested him to sit opposite 
me, which he very reluctantly did. Indeed it was evident 
that something preyed upon his. mind, for often as I had 
heard him repeat the story, I never before knew him to omit 
the part where he had pinned two of the Bedouins to a tree 
with a single thrust of his sword. On this occasion, his chief 
concern seemed to be to get through as soon as possible ; and 
he frequently looked behind him to the other side of the river, 
as if he thought we might eventually be compelled to depart 
