RISE, DECLINE, AND FALL OF YUSEF BADRA. 415 
ing in his face, and vanished in a cloud of dust. The descrip¬ 
tion was not to he mistaken. NTo other horseman than Yusef 
could he meant. 
Within six miles of Beirut, we overtook a withered little 
man, hobbling along and talking strangely to himself: he 
stopped when he saw us, and running up began howling 
frantically at us in Arabic, and flourishing his hands in the 
air, and beating his sides by turns in the strangest manner, 
as if entirely bereft of his senses. Our first thought was that 
the poor fellow was drunk or crazy; our next that he was a 
beggar, and wanted alms. We threw him a few piastres, 
which set him to howling louder than ever, nor did he stop 
his violent gesticulations to pick them up, but ran after us as 
we rode on, working himself into a perfect phrensy. That 
he was an unfortunate lunatic we were now thoroughly con¬ 
vinced ; he ran after us for as much as a mile, sometimes 
catching our horses by the tails and trying to stop them ; and 
when he found that we still continued on, he at length flung 
himself prostrate on the ground, rolled over and over, and 
howled like a hyena. The whole thing was unaccountable 
and singular. Not the remotest idea of the cause occurred 
to either of us. Unable to do any thing for the poor fellow, 
we rode on as fast as we could to the nearest hut, which was 
in sight, and made signs to some Arabs there to go back and 
see what was the matter. To this the only reply we could get 
was a perfect torrent of Arabic, and the most threatening and 
indignant looks, mingled with the words—Beirut! Beirut! 
I declare, for my own part, that I was completely struck 
aghast with mystery. Certainly it was the most singular oc¬ 
currence that had happened during the entire journey. What 
could it mean ? Was the man mad ? Were all the Arabs 
near Beirut bereft of their senses ? In truth, it seemed so ; 
and entirely unable to come to any other understanding in 
regard to the matter we pushed on rapidly; and in about an 
hour more entered the suburbs of Beirut. 
It was a delightful evening. The civilized appearance of 
the town, after all the ruinous places we had seen, the fa¬ 
miliar masts of the shipping, the stir and activity every where, 
