"Yes," returned the general, "and I see also the disgraceful use you make of it!"
On the next day, the sheik having been quieted for a time, Hamet himself again showed signs of turning back. Separating his Moslem party from us, he took from our officers the horses he had loaned us for the passage through the desert. When General Eaton reproached him for his indecision and lack of perseverance, high words followed. We marched on; Hamet turned back, but after two hours had passed he rejoined us, complimented the general on his firmness, and said that he had been forced to pretend that he was falling in with the wishes of his people, so that he might in the end manage them.
The next day brought the same daily measure of trouble. Several sheiks quarreled with Sheik il Taiib over the distribution of the money that Hamet had paid them, and had quitted camp. We could not proceed without them because they exercised a powerful influence over the Arab tribes near Derne, whose support we were counting on. Hamet rode after them to persuade them to be loyal to us, and in his absence Sheik il Taiib took the stage again, demanding that the general issue more rations.
"Remember," he said threateningly, "You are in a desert, and a country not your own! I am a greater man here than you or the Bashaw!"
The general retorted: "I have found you at the head of every commotion which has happened since we left Alexandria. You are the cause of the present trouble among the chiefs. Leave my tent! But mark: if I find a mutiny in the camp I will put you to death as the man who produced it."
The sheik left the tent and rode away with other chiefs. A few hours later, however, he returned and swore that he was devoted to the general; that some secret enemy had told lies about him; that he would even abandon the Bashaw to follow us; and hoped that at Derne he would have the opportunity to show that he was a man.
Our next halt came when some of the Arab chiefs insisted on riding off to an oasis called Seewauk for a supply of dates. They promised to rejoin our party at Bomba. We halted to discuss the matter.
While this matter was being debated we visited an Arab camp nearby. We found that the young men and women, although copper-colored, were handsome and well-formed. The women did not veil, and were modest and bashful in their deportment. The general complimented the wife of the chief on her beauty. She smiled and said there were more beautiful women in camp than herself and brought in a group of girls to prove it. But the general gallantly held to his first opinion.
Our soldiers were fond of dates, and to secure them from the girls they gave as payment the buttons on their uniforms, which the women strung as ornaments about their necks.
We were fortunate enough to see a marriage in the Arab camp. Two camels bearing canopies resembling wagon tops covered with Smyrna carpeting, passed along, to the noise of volleys of muskets. The bride and groom rode separately in these canopies, attended by elderly women, adult unmarried girls, and by mounted Arabs.