Page:Mount Seir, Sinai and Western Palestine.djvu/145

Rh Presently some of the troop ascended the hill on which we were seated, and as they approached we rose to our feet and exchanged salutes, then shook hands all round. I said we were friends; they replied by placing their hands on their hearts. I then offered them cigarettes, and so we parted;—but only for a season.

It appeared that at the interview between Sheikh Arari and Major Kitchener, the former had demanded tribute for passing through part of his territory. His followers also put in a claim for bakhsheesh. The former claim we admitted; the latter we refused to admit. It was needful, however, to act with prudence, for we were practically prisoners at the discretion of this powerful chief, whose camp was only a mile distant from our own, and who could muster a large number of spears at his call. We therefore promised the Sheikh a sum equal to £5 if he would engage that we should not be molested during the rest of our journey to the territory of the Ghawarneh at Es Safieh; to this he agreed, and he kept his promise. We all considered Sheikh Arari "a gentleman." Towards evening the spearmen mounted their horses and rode away, and we had evening prayers in our tent.

That evening we learned that the story about the Kerak men being amongst the Ghawarnehs was, in a great measure, an invention, certainly exaggerated; and we had some reason to suspect that Sheikh Ali was iuin [sic] league with the Petra Arabs, who were his relatives, to get us into a trap in order to extort money from us. He himself pretended to be very much alarmed at the report; but finally, on being pressed by us, he promised to start with us early next morning for Es Safieh, "even if he were to get his throat cut," as he said, passing his hand across his neck! We felt that the risk was not very great; so, accepting the proposal with a good grace, we presented him with a cigar, though our stock of tobacco was getting very short, and parted for the night.

On Monday morning, 17th December, we were up and off by times northwards towards the village of the Ghawarneh, as we wished to get a good start of the Petra Arabs, who, we feared, notwithstanding the promise of Sheikh Arari, might follow in pursuit, and perhaps take possession of some of our baggage, or possibly of the owners. Our route lay along the base of the hills on the east side of The Ghôr, and to the right rose the rugged mountains and cliffs leading up to the table-land of Moab, and penetrated by deep valleys or ravines.

We passed through several thickets of small trees and shrubs,