182 JOURNEY FROM his story of the robbers to deter them from accompanying us any farther ; for in the event of our being surprised and overpowered, they would themselves have lost their camels as well as all they had with them. Whether this story, which the Dhbbah had taken care to have generally circulated, really frightened the men of Mesurata, or whether they thought it imprudent to make an enemy of the old Shekh at a distance from their own country, and in a part of his own, did not very clearly appear ; but they soon after came to us, and declined proceeding any farther, alleging, at the same time, that Shekh Mahommed had already engaged camels for us from his own people in the neighbourhood, and that we should therefore have no occasion for theirs. We told them that we had as yet made no bargain with the Ddbbah, and that although we might wish to give him an opportunity, as our friend and conductor, of making a fair profit of his camels, we should certainly not accept them if we found that his demands were unreasonable. Finding, however, that the men were really unwilling to go on, under any circumstances, though they would not state precisely the grounds of their objection, we settled our accounts with them, giving each a few piastres in addition to what had been agreed for, as an acknowledgment of their good behaviour, and they shortly after set out on their return to Mesurata. Before their departure, however, we sent for Shekh Mahommed, and told him the number of camels we should have occasion for ; stating, at the same time, the sum we intended to pay him for them, to which, after some little parley, he consented. The next morning he made his appearance in our tent, and said that the camels would be brought to us