I can't give a
correct report of the debate, for it was held in a barbarous
dialect of the Arabic unknown to my dragoman. I recollect I
sincerely felt at the time that the arguments in favour of robbing
me must have been almost unanswerable, and I gave great credit to
the speakers on my side for the ingenuity and sophistry which they
must have shown in maintaining the fight so well.
During the discussion I remained lying in front of my baggage,
which had all been taken from the pack-saddles and placed upon the
ground. I was so languid from want of food, that I had scarcely
animation enough to feel as deeply interested as you would suppose
in the result of the discussion. I thought, however, that the
pleasantest toys to play with during this interval were my pistols,
and now and then, when I listlessly visited my loaded barrels with
the swivel ramrods, or drew a sweet, musical click from my English
firelocks, it seemed to me that I exercised a slight and gentle
influence on the debate. Thanks to Ibrahim Pasha's terrible
visitation the men of the tribe were wholly unarmed, and my
advantage in this respect might have counterbalanced in some
measure the superiority of numbers.
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