now I could not distinguish a ram of my own afar."

By this time Néphtali was at the side of the Moollah, and was examining
the travellers with an eagle glance.

"The noonday is hot, and the road rugged," said Suleiman; "invite the
travellers to refresh themselves and their horses: perhaps they have
news: besides, the Koran commands us to show hospitality."

"With us in the mountains, and before the Koran, never did a stranger
leave a village hungry or sad; never did he depart without tchourek,[36]
without blessing, without a guide; but these people are suspicious: why
do they avoid honest men, and pass our village by by-roads, and with
danger to their life?"

[36] A kind of dried bread.

"It seems that they are your countrymen," said Suleiman, shading his
eyes with his hand: "their dress is Tchetchná. Perhaps they are
returning from a plundering exhibition, to which your father went with a
hundred of his neighbours; or perhaps they are brothers, going to
revenge blood for blood."

"No, Suleiman, that is not like us. Could a mountaineer's heart refrain
from coming to see his countrymen--to boast of his exploits against the
Russians, and to show his booty? These are neither avengers of blood nor
Abreks--their faces are not covered by the báshlik; besides, dress is
deceptive. Who can tell that those are not Russian deserters! The other
day a Kázak, who had murdered his master, fled from Goumbet-Aoúl with
his horse and arms.... The devil is strong!"