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I rode fast to the head of the kafila to see what was happening, my husband still going back with about six camels, the others going on, they said, to Bir Baokban.
My husband said he would camp at Sufeila, but they quickly loaded up for Bir Baokban, they said. The sheikh was given fifteen dollars, and he told us he would send four of his sons with us. I must say that after those four or five hours of being stared at and called bad names, I was pretty tired. We none of us remarked that three of the soldiers, all the Jabberi, and the four sons stayed behind.
I suppose they would have fired if we had not been introduced to them. We were glad to reach Bir Baokban at 11.30. It is a well in a bare place at the mouth of a valley.
Talib then asked my husband which he wished to do, for so it should be; but as he knew it was a case of 'You may do as you like, but you must, answered to that effect, 'Whichever Talib liked, we were in his hands and could not choose. After great hesitation we encamped in a windy, dusty, but rather pleasant place near Bir Baokban. There were many tombs on the way.
There was another row of course, and my husband said we would return to Sufeila; but we were told at last that we might pass, so we did, and one of the shooters soon joined us and asked for a rupee for coffee, but was refused, and then said he would let us go to Bir Baokban if he got a rupee, but he did not insist.
I was riding with Imam Sharif, two Indians, four soldiers, and the groom leading Zubda, whose back was still sore, when we came to a fork in the way. The soldiers asked a passing man, 'Which is the way to Ghail? The man looked puzzled; so were we. I said, 'We want to know the way to Bir Baokban. 'No, no! Ghail, said the soldiers, and when I said 'Baokban! again they laughed scornfully.
They always were pledging them to our enemies, as an earnest that we would do what they wanted. The Hamoumi loaded the camels, on the oath of Talib that they should have the money that night at Sufeila, a place that we were to pass, and which the day before we were told it was impossible to reach in one stage. They swore to take us to Bir Baokban.
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