I Will Now Join My Men, As I Do Not Wish Them
To Know That I Have Been Conversing With You." He Then Made A Salaam,
Mounted His Donkey, And Rode Off.
I had won him.
I knew the Arab character so thoroughly that I was
convinced that the tree he had pointed out, followed by the words, "I
will come there and speak to you," was to be the rendezvous for the
receipt of the promised gun and money.
I did not wait for the arrival of my men, but mounting our horses, my
wife and I rode down the hillside with lighter spirits than we had
enjoyed for some time past; I gave her the entire credit of the "ruse."
Had I been alone, I should have been too proud to have sought the
friendship of the sullen trader, and the moment on which success
depended would have been lost.
On arrival at the grassy plain at the foot of the mountain, there was a
crowd of the trader's ruffians quarrelling for the shade of a few large
trees that grew on the banks of the stream. We accordingly dismounted,
and turning the horses to graze, we took possession of a tree at some
distance, under which a number of Latookas were already sitting. Not
being very particular as to our society, we sat down and waited for the
arrival of our party. The valley of Ellyria was a lovely spot in the
very bosom of the mountains.
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