But
he did not choose to augment the pride of the Moslem by
acquiescing in his proud claim of superiority, and therefore
suffered the conversation to drop, and, looking around him, could
now, at the more moderate pace at which they moved, distinguish
that he was in a country not unknown to him.
The blighted borders and sullen waters of the Dead Sea, the
ragged and precipitous chain of mountains arising on the left,
the two or three palms clustered together, forming the single
green speck on the bosom of the waste wilderness--objects which,
once seen, were scarcely to be forgotten--showed to Sir Kenneth
that they were approaching the fountain called the Diamond of the
Desert, which had been the scene of his interview on a former
occasion with the Saracen Emir Sheerkohf, or Ilderim. In a few
minutes they checked their horses beside the spring, and the
Hakim invited Sir Kenneth to descend from horseback and repose
himself as in a place of safety. They unbridled their steeds, El
Hakim observing that further care of them was unnecessary, since
they would be speedily joined by some of the best mounted among
his slaves, who would do what further was needful.
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