[p.516] among the great Aeneze tribe; at least I never heard of any; but
these Heywat Arabs are notorious for their bad faith, and never hesitate
to kill those who do not travel under the protection of their own
people, or their well known friends. Scarcely any other Bedouin robbers
would have fired till they had summoned us to give up our baggage, and
had received a shot for answer.
I had at first intended to visit, on my return, the upper mountains, to
which there is a road leading through the Wady Mokabelat; but Ayd
dissuaded me. He said that if the party from which we had just escaped
meant to pursue us, they would probably lay in wait for us in some of
the passes in that direction; as he did not doubt that it would be their
belief, that we were bound for Tor or Suez, the nearest road to which
places lies through the Wady Mokabelat. I yielded to his opinion, and we
returned along the coast by the same road we had come. Hamds wound was
not dangerous; I dressed it as well as I could, and four days afterwards
it was nearly healed. We travelled a part of the night, and
May 10th,early the next morning we again reached Noweyba, the place
where we had first reached the coast. We here met Ayds deaf friend.
Szaleh had all the way, betrayed the most timorous disposition; in
excuse for running away when we were attacked, he said that he intended
to halt farther on in the Wady, in order to cover our retreat, and that
he had been obliged to run after the camels, which were frightened by
the firing; but the truth was, that his terrors deprived him of all
power of reflection, otherwise he must have known that the only course,
to be pursued in the desert, when suddenly attacked, is to fight for
life, as escape is almost impossible.
Having been foiled in my hopes of visiting Akaba, I now wished to follow
the shore of the gulf to the southward; but Szaleh would not hear of any
farther progress in that direction, and insisted upon