The Bedouin, So
Often Engaged In Irregular Warfare, Strains His Eyes To The Horizon
In Search Of A Coming Enemy Just As Habitually As The Sailor Keeps
His "Bright Lookout" For A Strange Sail.
In the absence of
telescopes a far-reaching sight is highly valued, and Lady Hester
possessed this quality to an extraordinary degree.
She told me
that on one occasion, when there was good reason to expect a
hostile attack, great excitement was felt in the camp by the report
of a far-seeing Arab, who declared that he could just distinguish
some moving objects upon the very farthest point within the reach
of his eyes. Lady Hester was consulted, and she instantly assured
her comrades in arms that there were indeed a number of horses
within sight, but that they were without riders. The assertion
proved to be correct, and from that time forth her superiority over
all others in respect of far sight remained undisputed.
Lady Hester related to me this other anecdote of her Arab life. It
was when the heroic qualities of the Englishwoman were just
beginning to be felt amongst the people of the desert, that she was
marching one day, along with the forces of the tribe to which she
had allied herself. She perceived that preparations for an
engagement were going on, and upon her making inquiry as to the
cause, the Sheik at first affected mystery and concealment, but at
last confessed that war had been declared against his tribe on
account of its alliance with the English princess, and that they
were now unfortunately about to be attacked by a very superior
force. He made it appear that Lady Hester was the sole cause of
hostility betwixt his tribe and the impending enemy, and that his
sacred duty of protecting the Englishwoman whom he had admitted as
his guest was the only obstacle which prevented an amicable
arrangement of the dispute. The Sheik hinted that his tribe was
likely to sustain an almost overwhelming blow, but at the same time
declared, that no fear of the consequences, however terrible to him
and his whole people, should induce him to dream of abandoning his
illustrious guest. The heroine instantly took her part: it was
not for her to be a source of danger to her friends, but rather to
her enemies, so she resolved to turn away from the people, and
trust for help to none save only her haughty self. The Sheiks
affected to dissuade her from so rash a course, and fairly told her
that although they (having been freed from her presence) would be
able to make good terms for themselves, yet that there were no
means of allaying the hostility felt towards her, and that the
whole face of the desert would be swept by the horsemen of her
enemies so carefully, as to make her escape into other districts
almost impossible. The brave woman was not to be moved by terrors
of this kind, and bidding farewell to the tribe which had honoured
and protected her, she turned her horse's head and rode straight
away from them, without friend or follower.
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