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

54 Bedottin Ti'ibes of the Euphrates, [ch. xvm.
Moreover, yesterday after dinner lie lieard Wilfrid
say, by way of accounting for ]\Ir. S.'s non-appearance,
tliat he thought the Consul must be dead
whereupon he rushed out of the tent howling, and
then sat down on the ground, drew his cloak over
his head, and refused to move or speak for the rest
of the evening. Now, he has had terrible dreams
about his children, whom he has made up his mind
he shall never see again, and insists tlmt he must
iTO home at once. It is no use arQ;uiiio; with him,
poor man, and we cannot be angry, for he has
served us three months without a grumble, and put
up with all sorts of hardships, and shown an
amount of courage which could hardly have been
expected of him, mere Christian of Aleppo that
is. He thinks, too, that we have been deluding
him all along with false hopes of meeting the
Consul, to whom he is attached, and now he says,
" You tell me the Consul is dead! Boohoo ! boohoo !
What is really j)i'ovoking is that Ferhan, the
faithful Agheyl, who hitherto has done his duty,
and more than his duty, without a word of complaint,
has followed Hanna's suit, and now complains
of being overworked, and of having been
deceived into undertaking a journey he never bargained
for. Neither he nor Hiinna will go to the
Hamad with us. They have had enough of the
desert, and propose joining a caravan which is
starting for Horns in a few days, and getting home
as fast as they can. AVe hardly know what to do
he
"