1 29
2 robber was the Sheikh Dendal, the chief of the country on the
3 other side of the river ; that he was assured that the elder
4 brother had been for some time sick and swollen, and he added
5 that he was ready to go there on horseback to see the patient.
6 They then led him to a fordable part of the river, and I re-
7 mained with the boat; and whilst I was musing on this barren,
8 but still somewhat cultivated ground of the desert, calcu-
9 lating what day of the week we were in, and guessing that it
10 might be Sunday of the second week of November, probably
11 St. Martin’s day (when in my native country it is deep winter),
12 1 saw two men coming up the river, armed cap-a-pie. They
13 passed by without saluting me with their Selam, which surprised
14 me, and they went straight to the boat, inquiring for my
15 companion. They then loaded me with abuse, asking who
16 had brought us from Constantinople to cure the wounds of the
17 Agha at Hit, and adding that they would punish me imme-
18 diately for having done so, if it were not for the Khater (favor)
19 and for their regard for their friend, the Sheikh Dendal, and
20 they finished, by assuring me that we must not expect to escape
21 from the grasp of their brethren, as one hundred and fifty
22 Agelis were hunting after us.
23 After this menace, they left the boat and crossed the river,
24 at the same spot where my friend had crossed on horseback, with
25 as much ease as if they had been walking on land, carrying their
26 clothes and their weapons on their heads. When I lost sight of
27 them, the owner of the boat came up to me, asking whether I
28 understood what they had said to me. “ But too well,” re-
29 plied I ; then I asked him, what was now the best to be done P
30 He advised me, first of all, to put off my new richly decorated
31 and gold embroidered cloak (Aba), and to take his old worn-
32 out striped one. He concealed mine, and led me to a neigh-
33 bouring field, covered with high Indian corn (maize), and desired
34 me to sit down and remain quiet, until he should come to me.
35 I followed his advice, and after an hour had elapsed he came
36 back, with a smiling and contented countenance, telling me that
37 the man of Quoise, to whom I had given my purse, and