400 
A CRUSADE IN THE EAST. 
but not a lucky one, take it altogether. Wishing to disturb 
nobody, I crept cautiously over two or three snoring Arabs, 
and reached the corner without waking a living soul, so far 
as I knew. It was a capital place; indeed, I may say such 
a snug sort of spot for a quiet nap as would have enchanted 
any man of imagination. In the corner, and extending along 
the wall to the length of six or seven feet, was a kind of mud 
cupboard, with two or three large cavities or shelves in it, a 
good deal like the place for dead bodies in the catacombs of 
Rome. But it was not the holes that I was so pleased with; 
they were all filled with old earthen vessels, kettles, pans, and 
other loose rubbish ; it was the space which I supposed to be 
on top that charmed me. The mud-work was very frail, and 
shook a good deal when I began to climb up, but by groping 
my way cautiously, and balancing the whole structure when¬ 
ever it began to give way, I got on top at last, about ten feet 
from the ground, and was greatly rejoiced to find that it was 
a most admirable place for a night’s rest. All it wanted was 
to be cleared up a little, the surface being covered with onions 
to the depth of two or three inches. I had thrown my coat 
up before me, which I often used as a pillow, and, having no¬ 
where else to put the onions, began forthwith to gather them 
up in a pile at one end, and stow them under the coat, so as 
to make a comfortable resting-place for the head. This I was 
doing as quietly as possible, from a desire not to disturb my 
friends who were asleep down below. While I was raking up 
the last of the onions, and carefully balancing myself lest the 
cupboard should fall over and kill somebody, I distinctly heard 
a voice in the opposite corner of the house ; a woman’s voice, 
low but sharp enough to be the voice of the old man’s wife, 
which it unquestionably was. Then there was a guttural 
response ; then the woman’s voice again, a little louder and 
a good deal sharper; another guttural response ; a thumping 
sound, followed by a groan, and then out of the darkness crept 
the old man, looking up at me as he approached with an ex¬ 
pression of countenance in which terror, anxiety, and astonish¬ 
ment predominated. He kept staring at me for some moments 
to my great surprise, mumbling over something to himself in 
