Page:On the Desert - Recent Events in Egypt.djvu/205

Rh all night long, by insatiable Bedaween, incessantly demanding backsheesh, and ready to steal if the guard were relaxed a moment. A villain would come into one of the tents, and sit down on a trunk, and then demand backsheesh to get off! Another thrust a paper into the hand of one of the party, who took it, thinking the Arab might be offended at its refusal, when the rascal went off, but returned and demanded in a threatening manner ten pounds for the precious document! These little attentions of course made Petra a delightful retreat for a few days, even if one could not have it as a permanent residence. The dragoman told me in Jerusalem that he had to pay over a hundred pounds to get clear of the place! When they finally took their departure, they were followed by a last proof of attachment, in finding a Bedawee stationed on a hillside behind a tree, armed with a shotgun, with which he threatened to fire upon them if they did not pay some preposterous demand! To this they answered, not with money, but with powder and ball. After an exchange of shots, they charged upon him, and dragged him down, and finally left him tied hand and foot, and half dead, by the roadside. These things are more exciting to hear of than agreeable to experience, and after listening to their tale, we were quite willing that our friends should have all the glory, as they had all the annoyances, of such an expedition.

But between this difficult if not dangerous route by Petra, and going back directly on our path, there was a middle course, which would follow half way a return route to Suez — parallel to that by which we came, but farther away from the sea — and then strike off into the Great and Terrible Wilderness, passing midway between the Gulfs of Suez and Akaba, and crossing the great Desert of the Wandering, by which we should come up