Mr. Ritchie said, that as he was lying in bed, awake, he heard a slight noise overhead, when, in looking up, he saw a man stooping over our sky-light, or opening in the roof, as if for the purpose of examining into the room. After ascertaining where Mr. Ritchie slept, he knelt down, hanging his head as far over as he could, to observe where I lay. Mr. Ritchie moved very gently, so as to reach his pistol, when the intruder disappeared, and he instantly called out to me. He stated, that he saw as low down as the man’s waist, that his body appeared naked, and that he had a white cap on his head. The buildings here being covered with a mixture of sand and clay which easily receives the impression of feet, I endeavoured to trace on the top of ours the tracks of our visitor, and succeeded in finding one long print of a foot, exactly in the direction in which Mr. Ritchie had first observed this man. The impression did not resemble the shape of any of our feet; but was longer, and entirely flat, like those of most Negroes. Little doubt, therefore, could remain that a stranger had been there, evidently with no good intentions. The next morning we waited on Mukni, informing him of what had occurred, when he affected to think Mr. Ritchie must have been delirious, and laughed very much at our alarm. Old Hadje Mahmoud was firmly persuaded it was Iblis, who had haunted our house ever since a man was murdered in it. The foot-mark, however, staggered him a good deal, and he offered to bring a Marāboot, who would by smelling it, and reciting a few prayers, tell us who had imprinted it. The more rational people agreed in our opinion, that it was a spy, but this was only ventured in private; in public they pretended to treat the matter as lightly as the Sultan did. The preparations we had made, and our being observed to start up ready armed, perhaps secured us from any farther visits of the kind, and we took especial care to announce openly, that we would shoot the first person we saw even looking into our back yard. We never could positively ascertain why such a mysterious visit was made to us, but we strongly suspected Mukni to be the sole instigator of it. He soon after again fell sick, and constantly professed his great regard for us. After Boo Khalloum’s departure, some Arab Sheikhs were established as inmates of the castle, and Mukni frequently walked hand in hand with one of them, who was Chief of the tribe Barooda. This man was considered as being better acquainted with all the roads of the desert, than any other person in Fezzan. His own tribe were, at this time, near Egypt; and many suspected, that Mukni intended, with his assistance, to go off in that direction. But whatever might have been his destination, every route would have been equally dangerous for him, since he was detested by all the Arabs, and liable to be tortured and put to death by the Negroes, should he fall into their power.