The fourth day we had an alarm: four hours after noon the shepherds came running in haste, crying “To arms! the enemy are seizing our flocks.” It was the tribe of Daffir, who, watching the opportunity to revenge themselves on Nasser, had sent a thousand horse to carry off the flocks at nightfall, to allow no time for a pursuit. Our men, expecting an attack, were prepared; but it was necessary to find out on which side the enemy were. Night coming on, four men dismounted from their horses, took opposite directions, and crouching down, their ears close to the ground, heard at a great distance the steps of the plunderers. Night passed without being able to reach them; but in the morning the troop of Hassné (that of Mehanna) having joined them, they gave battle. After four hours’ fighting, half the flocks were recaptured; but five hundred camels remained in the hands of the tribe El Daffir. We had ten men killed and several wounded. At the return, the affliction was general; the Bedouins murmured, attributing all that had happened to the caprice and vanity of Nasser. Mehanna sent off a courier to his son, who immediately returned from Damascus, accompanied by a chokedar, (an officer of the pacha,) in order to make an impression on the Bedouins. On his arrival he read a letter from the pacha, to the following effect:-- “We make known to all the emirs and sheiks of the desert, great and small, encamped on the territory of Damascus, that we have appointed our son, Nasser Ebn Mehanna, Emir of all the Anazes (Bedouins of the desert,) inviting them to obey him. The tribe that shall have the misfortune to show itself rebellious, shall be destroyed by our victorious troops, and, as an example, their flocks shall be slaughtered, and their women delivered up to the soldiers. Such is our will. Signed, “SOLIMAN, Pacha of Damascus and Acre.” Nasser, proud of his new dignity, affected to read the order to every body, and to talk Turkish with the officer of the pacha, which still further increased the disgust of the Bedouins. One day whilst we were with him, there arrived a very handsome young man, named Zarrak, the chief of a neighbouring tribe. Nasser, as usual, spoke of his appointment, vaunted the greatness and power of the vizier of Damascus, and of the sultan of Constantinople “of the long sabre.”[C] Zarrak, who listened with impatience, changing colour, rose and said, “Nasser Aga,[D] learn that all the Bedouins detest thee: if thou art dazzled by the magnificence of the Turks, go to Damascus; adorn thy forehead with the caouk;[E] become the minister of the vizier; dwell in his palace; perhaps thou mayest strike terror into the Damascenes; but we Bedouins care no more for thee, thy vizier and thy sultan, than camel dung. I shall depart for the territory of Bagdad, where I shall find the Drayhy[F] Ebn Chahllan; him will I join.”