The men now confessed that although they had
come with so much mystery and, as they thought, at so great a risk
to ask my assistance, they were unable to suggest any mode in which
I could aid them, except indeed by mentioning their grievances to
the consul-general at Damascus. This I promised to do, and this I
did.
My visitors were very thankful to me for the readiness which I had
shown to intermeddle in their affairs, and the grateful wives of
the principal Jews sent to me many compliments, with choice wines
and elaborate sweetmeats.
The course of my travels soon drew me so far from Safed, that I
never heard how the dreadful day passed off which had been fixed
for the accomplishment of the second prophecy. If the predicted
spoliation was prevented, poor Mohammed Damoor must have been
forced, I suppose, to say that he had prophesied in a metaphorical
sense. This would be a sad falling off from the brilliant and
substantial success of the first experiment.
CHAPTER XXVII - DAMASCUS
For a part of two days I wound under the base of the snow-crowned
Djibel el Sheik, and then entered upon a vast and desolate plain,
rarely pierced at intervals by some sort of withered stem.
