All the people, in the streets through which we passed, cautiously opened their doors to have a peep at me. The ruling tribe also were not inactive; and they had mounted several horsemen, who followed close upon our heels, and would probably have made a demonstration if we had halted at the “ródha.” But my conductor, instead of staying there, as I had been made to believe, led on straight to the tents. Numbers of Tawárek families, carrying their little property on half-starved asses, met us on the road, flying westward, and confirming the fact that the approach of the tábu was not merely an idle rumour. The encampment also, which had been chosen at another spot, presented a very animated scene, a large hamlet, consisting of matting dwellings, or seníha, inhabited by the Kél-úlli and the Ígelád, _protégés_ of the Sheikh, being closely attached to it. The consequence was, that although the whole locality, formed by a sandy ridge with a slight depression full of trees, presented a more cheerful aspect than the former encampment, by degrees it became rather narrow and confined. Having received the compliments of my new friends, I endeavoured to make myself as comfortable as possible; but not much repose was granted me, for, about three o’clock in the afternoon, Mohammed ben Khottár, the Sheikh’s nephew, arrived with a verbal and peremptory message from the former to his elder brother, Sídi Mohammed, to the effect that the Fullán were about to storm my house in the town, in order to seize my luggage which I had left there; and desiring him instantly, and without the slightest delay, to bring me back, as all these proceedings were the consequence of his (Sídi Mohammed’s) indiscretion. Roused by this angry message, the noble son of the desert repented what he had done to the detriment of his brother’s interest, and calling together by strokes of the tobl, or great drum, which hung ready on the top of the sandy slope, all the people capable of carrying arms, he mounted his mare, with his four-barreled gun before him, while I, with my two servants, followed behind. Thus it appeared as if I was destined once more to enter Timbúktu, and this time under very warlike circumstances. We went at the beginning at such a rate, that it seemed as if we were about to storm the place directly; but on reaching the first creek of the river we made a short halt, while my Mohammedan friends said their prayers, and at last came to a stand on an eminence, whence we sent a messenger in advance. Sídi Álawáte came out of the town to meet us. Meanwhile darkness set in, and we again halted on another eminence in sight of the town, and sent a second messenger to the Sheikh. We were joined after a while by the people from Tawát, who informed us that El Bakáy had left the town with a numerous host of followers, but that they themselves did not know whither he was gone. Messengers were therefore despatched to endeavour to find him.