Page:Mount Seir, Sinai and Western Palestine.djvu/159

Rh aloug the shore of the Salt Sea, near Jebel Usdum. In this letter (which was addressed to Major Kitchener) it was stated that our messenger had shown them our letter to Cook's agent, and that on their return to Jerusalem on Christmas Eve they would leave no stone unturned towards getting us out of The Ghôr, and released from quarantine; also that our Arab had been sent on his way to Jerusalem. All this seemed very promising; because, should our messenger not arrive, our friends would be able to deliver our message on reaching the Holy City. The reader may, therefore, imagine our disappointment on beholding our Arab back again in the camp the next day! We were all absent at the time in various directions. Bernhard Heilpern was taking a nap; and, on awakening, could scarcely credit his senses when he beheld Hassam seated at the fire and conversing with Sheikh Ali. The question arose whether some sinister influence had again been at work to prolong our stay, and Heilpern's suspicions fell on Sheikh Ali, who was making money by our detention. When questioned why he had returned, Hassam merely replied that he had heard from some other Arab that we were about to start for Gaza, and had thought it useless to proceed further;—so here he was again. Thus were two days lost to us, and I began to feel that "hope deferred which makes the heart sick."

The Sheikh, at Heilpern's request, administered chastisement to his retainer, not a very severe one certainly, and for the third time Hassam was depatcheddespatched [sic] to Jerusalem with the letter. We never saw him again, though we understood he reached the city and fulfilled his errand.

Christmas Eve.—This afternoon brought with it tidings, not from Jerusalem, but from Cairo, the first we had received from the outer world for six weeks. In the afternoon four Arabs of the Hawatat tribe on camels, headed by a sheikh, arrived in our camp bearing a letter addressed to me by Sir Evelyn Baring, Her Majesty's Consul-General, to inform us of the defeat of General Hicks' army in the Soudan, and stating that some anxiety had been felt concerning us on the part of our friends both in England and Egypt; as the news of the disaster might have occasioned a hostile feeling amongst the Arabs towards Europeans. The letter was intended to put us on our guard should we perceive any symptoms of such feeling. The Arab party had tracked us step by step from Suez to Jebel Mûsa, thence to Akabah, and then to this spot; and being well mounted, they had accomplished the whole distance in twenty days. We felt grateful to the Consul-General for his consideration; and we were