Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates Vol 2 - The Search For Mecca

CH. XVI.] Otw Friend Hiiscyn and his Woes.
Thus attacked, the Pasha could only repeat his
usual exclamation, "Wall! wah !
wall!" and appear
delighted ; though, to our guilty consciences, there
seemed a curious expression not quite of pleasure in
his eyes. "All was Avell that ended well. He
was glad we had met with no accident ; but the
desert was a dangerous place, and the Bedouins
were not always to be trusted. However, we had
returned, which was the principal thing ; and he
would do his best to console us for our fatigues.
Our old rooms unfortunately were occupied, or on
the point of being occupied, by the new Valy of
Bagdad, who was passing through Deyr ; but we
could lodge
at the house of a Christian tradesman,
one Z Effendi, where we should still be the
Pasha's guests, and, he hoped, more comfortably
than was possible in his own poor house. For himself
he had had a miserable time of it, ever since we
went away, perpetual work and perpetual solitude.
He was beginning to pine for home and the society
of his friends at Aleppo ; and Deyr was bringing
him to an early grave."
Poor man ! we were ready enough to believe that
the latter part at least of this little speech was
sincere, for he looked, in the short time since we
had seen him last, considerably aged. His hair
was several shades whiter, and he had grown thin.
So we expressed our sympathy heartily enough, and
said as little as was necessary about our relations
with the official world of Bagdad.
It was only our