DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12665#0064
an arab's cunning.
55
scene being always precisely the same ; before us,
the long, desolate, sandy valley, and on each side
the still more desolate and dreary mountains. To-
wards evening we encamped ; and, after sitting
some time around a fire with my companions, I en-
tered my tent. Soon after, the sheik, in pursuance
of his pitiful plan of exciting my fears and raising
his own value, sent in for my gun and pistols, tel-
ling me that there were Arabs near ; that he heard,
the barking of a dog, and intended to keep watch
all night. I had already seen so much of him,
that 1 knew this was a mere piece of braggadocio;
and I met it with another, by telling him that no man
could use my pistols better than myself, and that
all he had to do was, upon the first alarm, to give
me notice, and I would be among them. About an
hour afterward, I went out and found them all
asleep; and I could not help making Paul rouse
the sheik, and ask him if he did not want the pis-
tols for his vigilant watch.
In the morning we started at half past six. The
day was again beautiful and inspiriting ; my horse
and myself had become the best friends in the
world; and, though I was disgusted with the
sheik's general conduct, I moved quietly along the
valley, conversing with him or Paul, or with any
of the men, about any thing that happened to sug-
gest itself. I remember I had a long discourse
about the difference between the camel and the
dromedary. Buffon gives the camel two humps,
and the dromedary one ; and this, I believe, is the
55
scene being always precisely the same ; before us,
the long, desolate, sandy valley, and on each side
the still more desolate and dreary mountains. To-
wards evening we encamped ; and, after sitting
some time around a fire with my companions, I en-
tered my tent. Soon after, the sheik, in pursuance
of his pitiful plan of exciting my fears and raising
his own value, sent in for my gun and pistols, tel-
ling me that there were Arabs near ; that he heard,
the barking of a dog, and intended to keep watch
all night. I had already seen so much of him,
that 1 knew this was a mere piece of braggadocio;
and I met it with another, by telling him that no man
could use my pistols better than myself, and that
all he had to do was, upon the first alarm, to give
me notice, and I would be among them. About an
hour afterward, I went out and found them all
asleep; and I could not help making Paul rouse
the sheik, and ask him if he did not want the pis-
tols for his vigilant watch.
In the morning we started at half past six. The
day was again beautiful and inspiriting ; my horse
and myself had become the best friends in the
world; and, though I was disgusted with the
sheik's general conduct, I moved quietly along the
valley, conversing with him or Paul, or with any
of the men, about any thing that happened to sug-
gest itself. I remember I had a long discourse
about the difference between the camel and the
dromedary. Buffon gives the camel two humps,
and the dromedary one ; and this, I believe, is the