Page:On the Desert - Recent Events in Egypt.djvu/285

Rh quite an Oriental scene as we entered the Serai, the Governor's residence, in the court of which was a swarm of officials, and of soldiers waiting for orders. In the courtyard was the prison, with many bad faces looking out from behind the bars. I think Dr. Post pleased himself to think of the hideous negro, with his teeth like tusks, behind those bars, and that he would not have been overmuch grieved to see his feet made fast in the stocks, or even subjected to the bastinado.

We ascended the steps and entered the room in which the Governor sits to give audience to those who come to him with wrongs to be redressed. He received us with all courtesy, an attendant brought coffee and pipes, and we presented our grievance. Our old soldier was on hand, with fire in his eye and vengeance in his heart, to tell the story of his wrongs. The case was a very plain one, and the Governor, after hearing it, called an attendant and ordered five horsemen to mount and ride in hot haste to the Arab village and demand the return of the money extorted, the soldier's sword, and above all, the body of the negro who had stopped our progress and dragged down our camels. Away they galloped over hill and dale, but the issue proved as the mudir had said: before they reached the Arab camp, some message had gone that they were coming, and the culprit betook himself to flight; and the horsemen, after a long search, returned without their prisoner. But the watch was kept up a long time. At Beirut a letter reached Dr. Post from Mr. Schapira, saving that he had had a visit from the mudir, who begged as a great favor that, if the rascal were taken, he might be punished by the tribe instead of being delivered up to the authorities at Gaza. Thus the wholesome scare which they had received partly answered the ends of justice.

After returning through the town, and visiting the