Accordingly, I made haste to overtake him, laughing quietly to myself as I observed, on reaching the open air, that the artful rogues had made good their escape under cover of the general panic, thus gaining for themselves, in the estimation of their indignant dupe, a reputation of cunning aforethought, which nothing I could say succeeded in shaking. When I assured him that they had merely turned the blood-feud to their own advantage, seizing the occasion as a source of profit to themselves, he informed me that there are a thousand and one ways of levying _bakhshísh_ by night, every one of which is practised during the Hájj season, by the freebooters of Hejaz. “By Allah!” he cried, “I say, the shots were fired by the Bedouins as a signal to those customers of mine. They are in league with one another, and the money that should be in my possession will soon be divided among those lawless tribesmen.” Whilst I was arguing with him, however, about fifty clansmen rode swiftly by on dromedaries, and disappeared in the direction of Arafat. Hardly had they passed out of sight than we heard the reports of their rifles, and after a little while the more distant battle-cries of their opponents. “You only heard the pursued,” said I, “but the pursuers you have seen. You would not believe your ears; do you believe your eyes?” “Perhaps you are right,” he admitted, with surly reluctance. “But is my loss any the less? Take care lest you yourself become the argument of your present attitude towards me in my trouble. Those men belonged to the tribe of Hozail, and they are famous marksmen. To travel alone to-night might mean death. The wisest thing that you could do, therefore, would be to await the arrival of the next caravan.--Tell me, are you rich?” I untied the little bag I wore around my neck (the sacred habit having no pockets), and emptied its contents into the palm of my hand. “That is all the money I have about me,” I replied; “but my present poverty should be my best protector on the road.” “No, no!” he cried: “the people believe you to be rich, and therein lies the danger of your riding by yourself.... Ah, here comes a band of pilgrims; thank God,” he added, as he pocketed the _bakhshísh_ I gave him: “Allah be with you!”