Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1860-10-05

On my replying in the affirmative, he or
dered nv accr,ser to divest himself of his
weapons, and speak.
"This Hadji," said Hanna, when we had
given up his weapons to one Of the slaves,
"is an emissary Of the devil a magician, and
a caster of the evil eye. On the march from
Sana March, he assembled Massr-el-C Cheitan,
from which he returned in salty; and as he
is the only mad who has ever done SO, here
by impeach him of compact with the evil
spirit, and having caused the death of many
our company by delivering them over to the
serpents."
Already" replied the Nagib, has the
Hadji been condemned to forfeit his life. 1t
matters not, then, whether your accusation
be true or false, for die he must"
"Grant me one favor, then," reioined Han
"a 81 have made vow to kill this man
with my own hand, if it is possible. Let me
redeem this vow by executing the sentence
you have passed upon him."
To aid those who have vowed is sacred
duty said Nagib; "by your hand let this
man die"
Again the four slaves made gestures to me
to fall on my knees, an order which l now
obeyed, seeing that resistance was useless
The sword was passed from the hands of the
headsman to those of my second eXecutioner
who grasped it with savage joy, raised it aloft
with his two hands, and was about to bring
it down upon me with all his might, when
Nagib stopped him, saying -
You strike on one condition only--that
you lose your own head if you fail to take off
that of the victim at single blow"
"Suppose kill him at the first blow with
some other weapon than this" said Hanna,
his Arab eyes cleaning with a cunning light
"what then p
"You can choose your weapons" replied
the Nagib."
"Give me my pistols, them"
"NOt So" said the Nagib "the sentence
must be executed with an edged weapon"
"That condition was not made in granting
my demand" retorted the fanatic. a have
already accepted your terms, and it is unjust
to impose new ones upon me-"
| "There is truth in the words of this man."
said the Nagib. "Give him his pistols"
Hanna seized the weapons with trembling
haste, tried them with the ramrod to see that
the charges had not been drawn, and point
ing them close to my body with both hands,
fired. did not fall; nor did feel any SEN
sation of pain excepting a sharp twinge at
my left side; my .touta was ON fire there
but it was Immediately removed by order of
the Nagib, and my wound which proved to
be nothing more than slight cxcoriation
caused by the blaze of the pistol, carefully ex-
amined. 1t was evident that the pistols had
not been loaded with ball.
"There!' exclaimed Hamza-"I told you
that this man was Il sorcerer, an emissary of
hell ~
| He is neither the one or the other" said
the Nagib-" 1t is the will of Allah that he
should live; and as for you, know that your
life is now in his hands"
81 am ready" said the wretched fanatic
whose fury against me was now changed into
terror, as he fell on his knees before me, re
citing the Besm- Allah; but desired him to
rise, saying that wished him no harm.
The spectators now congratulated me upon
my courage and coolncss, but not word
was said about my clemency. For it is a
popularity of the Arabs to regard clemency
as weakness, and cruelty as energy they
respect no man so much as the tyrant who
makes himself feared. The chief men grasp
cd me by the hand, and honored me with
the salute of the country, which consists in
placing the chin first on the right shoulder
of the guest and then on the left. Surgeons,
who had been sent for to dress my wound,
now arrived; but begged the Nagib to al
low Selim to go to the tents for some of my
own remedies, on the application of which,
! feeling more at ease, | requested permission
| to visit the town, attended by my servant.
! My rerneSs.. rer,n.cs. was not only granted with po-
liteness, but they insisted upon sending with
me one of the chief men as cicerone, and
two guards for my protection.