DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12665#0061
52
INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
their swordsrand began cutting away at each
other with all their might. I did not feel much ap-
prehension, and could not but admire the boldness
of the fellows, two men walking up deliberately
and drawing upon ten. One of the first charges
Toualeb gave me, on my entrance into the desert,
was, if the Arabs composing my escort got into
any quarrel, to keep out of the way and let them
fight it out by themselves; and, in pursuance of
this advice, without making any attempt to inter-
fere, I stood in the door watching the progress of
the fray. The larger of the two was engaged with
the sheik's brother, and their swords were clashing
in a way that would soon have put an end to one
of them, when the sheik, who had been absent at
the moment, sprang in among them, and knocking
up their swords with his long spear, while his scar-
let cloak fell from his shoulders, his dark face red-
dened, and his black eyes glowed in the fire-light,
with a voice that drowned the clatter of the wea-
pons, roared out a volley of Arabic gutturals which
made them drop their points, and apparently si-
lenced them with shame. What he said we did
not know ; but the result was a general cessation of
hostilities. The sheik's brother had received a cut
in the arm, and his adversary helped to bind up
t the wound, and they all sat down together round
the fire, to pipes and coffee, as good friends as a
party of Irishmen with their heads broken after a
Donnybrook fairing. I had noticed, in this flurry,
the exceeding awkwardness with which they used
INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
their swordsrand began cutting away at each
other with all their might. I did not feel much ap-
prehension, and could not but admire the boldness
of the fellows, two men walking up deliberately
and drawing upon ten. One of the first charges
Toualeb gave me, on my entrance into the desert,
was, if the Arabs composing my escort got into
any quarrel, to keep out of the way and let them
fight it out by themselves; and, in pursuance of
this advice, without making any attempt to inter-
fere, I stood in the door watching the progress of
the fray. The larger of the two was engaged with
the sheik's brother, and their swords were clashing
in a way that would soon have put an end to one
of them, when the sheik, who had been absent at
the moment, sprang in among them, and knocking
up their swords with his long spear, while his scar-
let cloak fell from his shoulders, his dark face red-
dened, and his black eyes glowed in the fire-light,
with a voice that drowned the clatter of the wea-
pons, roared out a volley of Arabic gutturals which
made them drop their points, and apparently si-
lenced them with shame. What he said we did
not know ; but the result was a general cessation of
hostilities. The sheik's brother had received a cut
in the arm, and his adversary helped to bind up
t the wound, and they all sat down together round
the fire, to pipes and coffee, as good friends as a
party of Irishmen with their heads broken after a
Donnybrook fairing. I had noticed, in this flurry,
the exceeding awkwardness with which they used