Page:The Northern Ḥeǧâz (1926).djvu/94

 the šeʻîb of aẓ-Ẓjejḳe, about one kilometer from the tents (temperature: 21° C).

Mounting the rock with Tûmân and the guide, I noted the names of the surrounding mountains and then dragged myself to the baggage. Šerîf placed my saddle for me in the shadow of the rock, where I lay down. My right eye was swollen and blood-shot, I had excruciating internal pains, and was shaken by fever. Scarcely had I wrapped myself up in my mantle, covering my head also, when Ḳâsem, the chief, came to pay me a visit, bringing me a bleating ram as a gift. Tying up the animal behind my head, he sat down beside me and inquired how I was prospering, how my parents were prospering, how my relatives were prospering, how the Sultan of Constantinople was prospering—not only the new Sultan, but also Abdul-Hamid, who had been deposed and who was, Ḳâsem said, a great benefactor of the ʻImrân, because he selected better cloaks than the present Sultan—and so on. Many other men came with the chief, and they also sat down around me, fingering the softness of my cloak, judging its cost, and declaring that it was of better material than the cloak which the Sultan had sent from Constantinople to their chief. Observing the barrel of my three-chambered rifle lying beside me underneath my cloak, they asked how it worked. As my head was entirely covered, I did not move or pay any heed to the chief and the rest of the company. After about a quarter of an hour, the leader got up and went to our fire, where coffee was just being boiled, and the rest of them crowded after him. Only the ram remained tied up behind my head and kept on bleating. At last the animal succeeded in breaking loose and escaped from the camp. Scarcely had its escape been observed than the chief and his followers dashed off, caught the animal, and brought it back again; but this time they did not tie it up near my head but near the fire, where it continued bleating until morning. All night long, as in a dream, I heard the voices of the men talking and the bleating of the ram.

Before dawn on Tuesday, June 7, 1910, Ḳâsem, the chief, was again sitting by my side with his ram, which he now