Eothen1845

Questo libro di storia potrebbe contenere numerosi refusi e parti di testo mancanti. Solitamente gli acquirenti hanno la possibilita di scaricare gratuitamente una copia scansionata del libro originale (senza refusi) direttamente dall'editore. Il libro e Non illustrato. 1864 edition. Estratto: ...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. Mysseri (not interpreting in Arabic) had no duty to perform, and he seemed to be faint and listless as myself. Shereef looked perfectly resigned to any fate. But Dthemetri (faithful terrier!) was bristling with zeal and watchfulness: he could not understand the debate, for it was carried on at a distance too great to be easily heard, even if the language had been familiar; but he was always on the alert, arid now and then conferring with men who had straggled out of the assembly. At last he found an opportunity of making an offer which at once produced immense sensation; he proposed on my behalf that the tribe should bear themselves loyally towards me, and take my people and my baggage in safety to the other bank of the river, and that I on my part should give such a "teskeri," or written certificate of their good conduct, as might avail them hereafter in the hour of their direst need. This proposal was received and instantly accepted by all the men of the tribe there present with the utmost enthusiasm. I was to give the men too a "baksheish," that is, a present of money usually made upon the...