414 A CRUSADE IN THE EAST. 
vl/. - . v ;■, t . - 
munity, to warn tliem of the evil effects of misguided courage. 
Yusef Badra shall become a name not only feared throughout 
Syria, but a terror throughout the whole civilized world !” 
This threat, which I made with all the force and emphasis 
necessary to give it full effect, did not allay in any degree the 
fiery zeal of my dragoman. Scarcely had I concluded, when 
he seized my hand in the most enthusiastic manner, and said— 
K By all the compromises of Earth, 0 General, I would 
slay ten thousand men, and die ten thousand deaths to oblige 
your Excellency ! If you deem me worthy of figuring in this 
important history of which you speak, I only ask that you will 
call me by my proper name, and give me no fictitious title.” 
“ IT1 do it, Yusef—I’ll certainly do it; so I warn you ; be 
on your guard.” 
With that, to my great surprise, he gave vent to his fearful 
war-cry, Badra ! Badra for ever! and before I could utter a 
word, dashed off at full speed. It was in vain that I shouted to 
him to stop; there was no stopping him now; and as I rode 
along, restraining by every possible means the fiery spirit of 
Saladin, my mind was filled with the most gloomy forebodings. 
I felt quite sure that something dreadful was going to happen. 
Oh that insatiable thirst for fame f How it 
u -Heaps the plain with mountains of the dead, 
Nor ends with life, but nods in sable plumes, 
Adorns our hearse, and flatters on our tombs!” 
As we drew near Beirut, we stopped at every house on the 
road-side to inquire if Yusef had passed. The muleteers had 
gone on ; and the party now being reduced to the tall South¬ 
erner and myself, we were compelled to depend altogether 
upon signs for the information we sought—pronouncing in 
various different ways the name of our leader and the word 
dragoman, and then pointing up the road. The answers were 
invariably to the same effect, and being communicated in 
signs they were singularly dramatic. We judged, from the 
frantic manner in which these signs were made, that a furious 
horseman had passed, that he was armed with guns, pistols, 
and knives ; that he flourished his sword at every body in the 
most terrific manner; that he smote the very air for breath- 
