“That is Mansur’s wife; his only wife,” said Belkassim.
Happy son of the Khalifa of Matmata!
When we had crossed to the other side of the vale I turned in my saddle; she still stood there, and in the distance below I saw her face indistinctly, like a pale spot amidst its dark blue wrappings. She remained long standing thus and looking after us; then disappeared, carrying the dull grey pitcher on her back, and up the slope other blue figures came tripping along to the same spot.
The valley is very uneven, rising and falling, as it is furrowed and cut up by watercourses. The palm and olive trees scattered along these crevasses are protected by stone enclosures and ditches.
Just as we passed the last dip in the valley before climbing the hill, there rushed out three dogs which had evidently been watching us.
I looked about me, for it dawned on my mind that there must be a habitation in the vicinity. I was right; for, by standing in my stirrups and stretching my neck, I got a glimpse of the square upper rim of a cave yard.
The dogs rushed on Hamed’s horse which was last, and had possibly approached too close to the entrance of the dwelling. The attack was so violent that we were obliged to turn and assist him. The furious brutes held fast on to the tail of his horse, fearing to come within reach of Hamed’s whip; but one of them succeeded in biting the horse’s near hind-leg, drawing blood and laming it—a pleasant beginning to our mountain trip!
We dismounted and threw stones at these furious white sheep-dogs, and at last they retired, showing their teeth and ready to resume the attack the moment we remounted. Fortunately a man and a boy appeared and called the dogs off. Believing the man to be their owner, I ordered Hamed to rate him soundly and threaten that I would report what had occurred to the Khalifa. The man took the rebuke quietly, but told us humbly that he was a poor devil who possessed nothing—not even a dog. The proprietor of the dwelling was absent.
“Then greet him from us and say that he should have his dogs under better control, or he will have the Khalifa after him.”
The wrongly accused man kissed a fold of my burnous, and we again mounted our horses and climbed the mountain in a zigzag course, by difficult paths over loose stones.