I Was So Languid From Want Of Food, That I Had Scarcely
Animation Enough To Feel As Deeply Interested As You Would Suppose
In The Result Of The Discussion.
I thought, however, that the
pleasantest toys to play with during this interval were my pistols,
and now and
Then, when I listlessly visited my loaded barrels with
the swivel ramrods, or drew a sweet, musical click from my English
firelocks, it seemed to me that I exercised a slight and gentle
influence on the debate. Thanks to Ibrahim Pasha's terrible
visitation the men of the tribe were wholly unarmed, and my
advantage in this respect might have counterbalanced in some
measure the superiority of numbers.
Mysseri (not interpreting in Arabic) had no duty to perform, and he
seemed to be faint and listless as myself. Shereef looked
perfectly resigned to any fate. But Dthemetri (faithful terrier!)
was bristling with zeal and watchfulness. He could not understand
the debate, which indeed was carried on at a distance too great to
be easily heard, even if the language had been familiar; but he was
always on the alert, and now and then conferring with men who had
straggled out of the assembly. At last he found an opportunity of
making a proposal, which at once produced immense sensation; he
offered, on my behalf, that if the tribe should bear themselves
loyally towards me, and take my party and my baggage in safety to
the other bank of the river, I should give them a teskeri, or
written certificate of their good conduct, which might avail them
hereafter in the hour of their direst need.
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