such is the pride of an Arab chief, that he thinks it is a very great
honor indeed for a stranger to share his meal.

But the traveller soon found that it is dangerous to pass through a
desert. Why? Not on account of wild beasts, but of wild men. There was a
tribe of Arabs very angry with Suleiman, because he was conducting the
travellers through _their_ part of the desert. They wanted to be the
guides through that part, in hopes of getting rewarded by a good sum of
money. You see how covetous they were. The love of money is the root of
all evil.

These angry Arabs were hidden among the rocks and hills; and every now
and then they came suddenly out of their hiding-places, and with a loud
voice threatened to punish Suleiman.

How much alarmed the travellers were! but none more than Suleiman
himself. He requested the clergyman to travel during the whole night, in
order the sooner to get out of the reach of the enemy. The clergyman
promised to go as far as he was able. What a journey it was! No one durst
speak aloud to his companions, lest the enemies should be hidden among
the rocks close by, and should overhear them. At midnight the whole
company pitched their tents by the coast of the Red Sea. Early in the
morning the minister went alone to bathe in its smooth waters. After he
had bathed, and when he was just going to return to the tents, he was
startled by hearing the sound of a gun. The sound came from the midst of
a small grove of palm-trees close by. Alarmed, he ran back quickly to the
tents: again he heard the report of a gun: and again a third time. The
travellers, Arabs and all, were gathered together, expecting an enemy to
rush out of the grove. But where was Suleiman? He had gone some time
before into the grove of palm-trees to talk to the enemies.