412 
A CRUSADE IN THE EAST. 
arid we saw nothing of him again till morning; when, as 
usual of late, he looked morose and gloomy, and beat all the 
muleteers. Truly, saith Socrates, doth intemperance rob us 
of our reason, that chief excellence of man, and drive us to 
commit the very greatest disorders. 
Thus, it will be seen, commenced the decline of Yusef Ba- 
dra. His rise took place on the journey to Jerusalem. At 
Baalbek, he rose rather high. At Damascus he rose higher. 
At Jerusalem he rose highest. Now commenced his decline. 
That very day, on the journey to Tyre, as we were going 
through a narrow pass, we met a caravan of camels. Yusef, 
incensed at the driver of the first camel for not getting out of 
the way, came very near slaying both the man and the camel 
on the spot; and would have done so, had not the man exhib¬ 
ited so much spirit and courage that it struck the warlike soul 
of Badra with admiration; he not only pardoned the offense, 
but cordially shook hands with the offender and passed on. I 
saw with pain and anxiety that Yusef was daily giving way 
more and more to his fierce passions ; and that sooner or later, 
it must end in his utter ruin. On the occasion of this diffi¬ 
culty, therefore, I deemed it my duty to warn him of the re¬ 
sults that would probably ensue from this unlimited sway of 
courage. 
‘ What,” said I, “ would have been the consequence had 
that man been a coward ? You would have slain him on the 
spot—run him through the body with your sword. I saw it 
in your eye, Yusef; don’t deny it; I saw that you meant to 
do it.” 
“ Do it ?” cried Yusef, smiling proudly, “ Fight a single 
man? a miserable camel-driver ? No, sir ; I merely intended 
to cut his head off with one blow, so that he never would 
find out till he sneezed that it was off at all; the camel I 
should simply have ripped open.” 
“ That’s precisely what I mean. The man was not a cow¬ 
ard, and, therefore, you admired him, and felt that he was a 
congenial soul. You spared his life ; you shook hands with 
him ; you loved him as a brother. But had he been a cow¬ 
ard, as I before said, what would have been the consequence? 
