r of his tribe with their long guns, and a lot more
with lances. He was a volunteer, and furious at the idea of a lady and a
stranger being robbed. It is the first time it has happened here, and
the desire to beat was so strong that I went to act as counsel for the
prisoner. Everyone was peculiarly savage that it should have happened to
me, a person well known to be so friendly to _el Muslimeen_. When we
arrived we went into a square enclosure, with a sort of cloister on one
side, spread with carpets where we sat, and the wretched fellows were
brought in chains. To my horror, I found they had been beaten already.
I remonstrated, 'What if you had beaten the wrong men?' '_Maleysh_!
(Never mind!) we will beat the whole village until your purse is found.'
I said to Mustapha, 'This won't do; you must stop this.' So Mustapha
ordained, with the concurrence of the Maohn, that the Sheykh-el-Beled and
the _gefiyeh_ (the keeper of the ruins) should pay me the value of the
purse. As the people of Karnac are very troublesome in begging and
worrying, I thought this would be a good lesson to the said Sheykh to
keep better order, and I consented to receive the money, promising to
return it and to give a napoleon over if the purse comes back with its
contents (3.5 napoleons). The Sheykh-el-Ababdeh harangued the people on
their ill-behaviour to Hareemat, called them _haramee_ (rascals), and was
very high and mighty to the Sheykh-el-Beled. Hereupon I went away to
visit a Turkish lady in the village, leaving Mustapha to settle. After I
was gone they beat eight or ten of the boys who had mobbed me, and begged
with the two men. Mustapha, who does not like the stick, stayed to see
that they were not hurt, and so far it will be a good lesson to them. He
also had the two men sent over to the prison here, for fear the
Sheykh-el-Beled should beat them again, and will keep them here for a
time. So far so good, but my fear now is that innocent people will be
squeezed to make up the money, if the men do not give up the purse. I
have told Sheykh Yussuf to keep watch how things go, and if the men
persist in the theft and don't return the purse, I shall give the money
to those whom the Sheykh-el-Beled will assuredly squeeze, or else to the
mosque of Karnac. I cannot pocket it, though I thought it quite right to
exact the fine as a warning to the Karnac _mauvais sujets_. As we went
home the Sheykh-el-Ababdeh (such a fine fellow he looks) c