"With my own eyes, general."
"Where were they coming from? Where are they going? What do they want of us?"
"They are coming from Damascus, and I presume they want to defeat us. They are going to Saint-Jean-d'Acre, if I am not mistaken, to raise the siege."
"Only that? Oh, we will cut them off! Are you going to stay with us, or return to Bonaparte?"
"I shall stay with you, general. I have a great longing to try a turn with the rascals. We are dying of boredom at the siege. Except for the two or three sorties which Djezzar has had the stupidity to make we have had nothing to vary the monotony."
"Well," said Junot, "I can promise you that you will find some variety by to-morrow. By the way, I forgot to ask you how many there were?"
"Ah, general, I will reply to you as an Arab would. As well try to count the sands of the sea! There must be at least twenty-five or thirty thousand of them."
Junot scratched his head.
"The devil!" he said, "there is not much to be done with the few men I have with me."