Arabs. In a moment the most terrific din filled the place — everyone was shouting and firing.

I noticed that even one of the eagles shrieked. The echoes were tremendous, and caught up and doubled the confusion. When we had cleared the gorge I sat down and rested. The whole place, pervaded with the smell of sulphur and hung with clouds of smoke, suggested the gateway to the Inferno. One of my men, an American nigger from Liberia, who was quietly hacking the hand off a dead body as the simplest method of removing the bracelets, said, “ I guess they ain't had such a dust up in this hole since creation.” At this I blew the retreat — the echo of which went on sounding for over two minutes — and left.