The Day After His Oath, When We Were About To Depart From
Ayme, He Addressed Me In The Presence Of The Whole Company, Saying That
His Saddle Would Fit My Horse Better Than My Own Did, And That He Would
Therefore Change Saddles With Me.
Mine was worth nearly forty piastres,
his was not worth more than ten.
I objected to the exchange, pretending
that I was not accustomed to ride upon the low Bedouin saddle; he
replied, by assuring
[p.399] me that I should soon find it much more agreeable than the town
saddle; moreover, said he, you may depend upon it that the Sheikh of the
Howeytat will take your saddle from you, if you do not give it to me. I
did not dare to put the Sheikh in mind of his oath, for had I betrayed
to the company his having extorted from me so much, merely for the sake
of his company, he would certainly have been severely reprimanded by the
Bedouins present, and I should thus have exposed myself to the effects
of his revenge. All the bye-standers at the same time pressed me to
comply with his request: “Is he not your brother?” said they. “Are not
the best morsels of his dish always for you? Does he not continually
fill your pipe with his own tobacco? Fie upon your stinginess.” But they
did not know that I had calculated upon paying part of the hire of a
guide to Egypt with the value of the saddle, nor that I had already
handsomely paid for my brotherhood.
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