Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1894-05-30

| VINE ana dividing his wives so soon. Take
a cup of his sherbet, my gazelle. Ha! that
is good. Thou smackest thy lips again.
Now thou shalt have another bite" and
the tongue having by this time disap-
pearcd, he seized the carcass and tore a
| hind leg off. He held it toward me, and |,
remembering Tabals admonishing look,
made fcint of biting greedily.
"Nay, not all! By my faith, not ALL!
cried Suleman. "Abd ell Mahsin, seest
thou this? He who moment ago would
not put tooth on a tongue is now ready to
devour an entire limb He will he asking
for q whole carcass next. Yet he shall eat;
yea, eat and drink" turning to me again.
'Yonder is the desert that will bring my
gay ones sides together in emptiness"
So saying he pushed the mass of me 1t
against my mouth and laughed uproarious-
| " because l showed symptoms of choking.
But now that was docile the diversion of
coercing me was at an end, and so, letting
me eat as pleased, he centered his atten-
tions on himself. Never surely did man
reeale himself with such desperate energy.
/, Nor was he alone in his voracity, for the
entire 1and laid to in such an exhibition of
rayening as the civilized cannot imagine.
| Whole carcasses disappeared as mouthfuls,
and where one minute there was meat
enough to furnish a score Of butchers
shops the next there was only a heap Of
bones piled for the wolf and the hyena.
Tobacco and huge drafts of coffee and
sherbet followed Then the gormandiZed
camp lay down to sleep off its surfeit, the
sentries alone remaining alert and unde-
bauched. They would get their share later.
When we rose again, there was no longer
any hilarity. The festivities were over, and
the festive spirit gave place to one strictly
concerned with business. Men who had
laughed riotously at the feast were grim
and hard faced, and among the grimmest
of the lot was the erstwhile jocular Sulei-
man. He looked indeed as if he had never
learned how to smile, and noticed his curt
orders were obeyed with silent alacrity
that told of an authority which would
brook neither questioning nor insubordina-
tion. The saddling up was done so quietly
that you would not have heard us a hun
dred yards off, and SO quickly that in an
hour after the first order was given we were
in breakneck gorge mile from the rest
ing place.
By express injunction Tabal and l rode
our own horses by the bride of Suleiman,
while Ahmed was accommodated by the
rein of ADD el Mahsin. Though there was
no path save such as could be picked
among broken ravines and craggy water.
courses and up and down breathless sleeps,
the progress was swift, for Bedouin horses
leap and dodge and climb with the agility
of goats. In trying moments when we
three strangers were demonstrative from
fear of our necks we were admonished to
silence with the butt end of spear and so
learned to hold our peace and look death
in the face.
By nightfall, after ride that recklessly
tore and jolted the soundest joints and
bones, we emerged from the range on
level dip OH one of the spurs overlooking
the plain to the west. Here we halted for
supper, which was stealthily prepared and
silently eaten; for the need of conceal
ment had come. As soon as the meal YVES
over. Suleiman and Add el Mahsin held q
brief but animated consultation, the result
of which was an immediate order to mount
and march. By daybreak we were at tie
mouth of steep and narrow defile that
issued on piece of green sloping down 10
the plain, and here we rested in the shadow
of some tall precipices, managing to snatch
perhaps an hour OF sleep.
The east was blazing in all the glory of
crimson and gold. when some one prodded
ME vigorously in the ribs, and leaped up
to find the company Tightening girths for
the road. Tabal, who insisted on being at
once brother and servant to me, had my
mare ready by my side. had just time to
take the rein when Suleiman gave the or
der to mount, and, like one man, the band
sprang into the saddle.
At starting we divided, ADD ell Mahsin,
with Ahmed and the necessary guard, 60
ir- .-o"-hward with the caDtured horses