with my own hand.” Upon this he took up his fword, that
was ly in g at the head o f his fofa, and, drawing it with a
bravado, threw the fcabbard into the middle o f the room ;
•and, tucking the fleeve o f his fhirt above his elbow lik e a
butcher, faid, “ I wait your anfwer.”
I n o w ftept one pace backwards, and dropt theburnoofe
behind me, holding the littleblunderbufs in my hand, without
taking it off the belt. I faid, in a firm tone o f voice,
“ This is m y anfwer; I am not a man, as I have told you
before, to die like a beail by the hand o f a drunkard; on
your life, I charge you, ftir not from your fofa.” I had no
need to give this injun&ion; he heard the noife which the
clofing the joint in the ftock o f the blunderbufs made, and
thought I had cocked it, and was inftantly to fire. He let
his fword drop, and threw h im fe lf on his back on the fofa,
crying, “ For God’s fake, H akim, I was but jelling.” At the
fame time, with all his might, he cried, “ Brahim i Mahomet!
El .coom ! El coom*!”— I f one o f your fervants approach
me, faid I, that inllant I blow you to pieces ; not
one o f them lhall enter this roopi till they b rin gin my fer-
-vants with them ; I have a number o f them armed at your
gate, who w ill break in the inftant they hear me fire.
T he women had come to the door. My fervants were
admitted, each having a blunderbufs in his hand andpiftols
a t ,his girdle. We were now greatly an overmatch for
the Shekh, who fat far back on the fofa, and pretended
that all he had done was in joke, ip which his fervants
joined.
* JEl cQom, that is, all h is .fe ra n
joined, and a very confufed, defultory diicourfe followed,
till the Turk, Iherriffe Ifmael, happened to obferve the
Shekh’s fcabbard o f his fword thrown upon the floor, on
which he fell into a violent fit o f laughter. He fpoke very
bad Arabic, mixed w ith Turkilh, as I have often obferved.
He endeavoured to m ake the Shekh underliand, that drunkards
and cowards had more need o f the fcabbard than the
fw o rd ; that he, Fidele, and the other d runkard that came
to our houfe two or three nights before, who faid he was
Shekh o f the Jehaina, were juft pofieiTed o f the fame portion
o f courage and infolence, g
As no good could be expected from this expoftulation, I
ftopt it, and took my leave, defiring the Shekh to go to bed
and compofe himfelf, and not try any more o f thefe experiments,
which would certainly end in his fhame, i f not
in his puniflunent.; He made no anfwer, only wiilied us
good night.
CH*AP