Frequent Lights Twinkling Through The Darkening Air
Informed Us That We Were In The Midst Of The Eesa.
At 8 P.M. we reached
"Gagab", the third Marhalah, where the camels, casting themselves upon the
ground, imperatively demanded a halt.
Raghe was urgent for an advance,
declaring that already he could sight the watchfires of his Rer or tribe
[12]; but the animals carried the point against him. They were presently
unloaded and turned out to graze, and the lariats of the mules, who are
addicted to running away, were fastened to stones for want of pegs [13].
Then, lighting a fire, we sat down to a homely supper of dates.
The air was fresh and clear; and the night breeze was delicious after the
steamy breath of day. The weary confinement of walls made the splendid
expanse a luxury to the sight, whilst the tumbling of the surf upon the
near shore, and the music of the jackal, predisposed to sweet sleep. We
now felt that at length the die was cast. Placing my pistols by my side,
with my rifle butt for a pillow, and its barrel as a bed-fellow, I sought
repose with none of that apprehension which even the most stout-hearted
traveller knows before the start. It is the difference between fancy and
reality, between anxiety and certainty: to men gifted with any imaginative
powers the anticipation must ever be worse than the event. Thus it
happens, that he who feels a thrill of fear before engaging in a peril,
exchanges it for a throb of exultation when he finds himself hand to hand
with the danger.
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