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I loved Syria so dearly it broke my heart to leave it, and always with me was the gnawing thought: How shall I tear the East out of my heart, and adapt myself again to the bustling, struggling, everyday life of Europe? I lost no time in settling our affairs at Bludan.
It was two yards and a half long, and as thick as a child's arm. It had a flat head, and was of a bluish silver colour. Another night, when I went up to the housetop, a large wolf sprang over my head. I ran in for my gun, but though I was not gone an instant the wolf was out of my reach. After a few weeks Richard came up and joined me at Bludan with Charles Tyrwhitt-Drake.
We had not long returned to Bludan before a great excitement arose. When we had been home about a fortnight, on August 26, Richard received at night by a mounted messenger two letters, one from Mr.
I don't know about the Arab's head, but there was no doubt about the onions. I often used to dine off a big raw onion and an oatmeal cake, nothing being forthcoming. In many ways our days at Bludan were the perfection of living. We used to wake at dawn, make a cup of tea, and then sally forth accompanied by the dogs, and take long walks over the mountains with our guns in search of sport.
It was the custom of Isabel and her husband, whenever they went to a new place, to look out for a sort of sanatorium, to which they might repair when they wanted a change or were seedy or out of sorts. Thus, when Burton was sent to Santos, they chose Sao Paulo; when they were at Damascus, they pitched on Bludan; and as soon as they arrived at Trieste, they lighted upon Opcina.
We threaded the alleys of Bludan, ascended steep places, and soon found ourselves beyond the village, opposite a door which opened into a garden cultivated in ridges up the mountain. In the middle stood a large barn-like limestone hall, with a covered Dutch verandah, from which there was a splendid view. This was our summer-house; it had been built by a former consul.
This I was most anxious to avoid. My one anxiety now was to get away as quietly as possible. I made my preparations for departure from Damascus in the same way as I had done at Bludan. I arranged to sell everything, pay all debts, and pack and dispatch to England our personal effects.
That morning at Bludan the horses were saddled at the door, and we were going for a ride, when a ragged messenger on foot stopped to drink at the spring, and then came up to me with a note. I saw it was for Richard, and took it into the house to him, never thinking what it contained.
One who never turned his back, but marched breast forward; Never doubted clouds would break; Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong would triumph Held, we fall to rise again; are baffled, to fight better; Sleep, to wake! In October Richard and I left Bludan to return to our winter quarters at Salahiyyeh, Damascus.
He fought hard to stay; and I do not wonder, for he had a splendid position. But none of Richard's enemies have ever flourished. At Damascus I had to go through the same sad scenes, on a much larger scale, that I had gone through at Bludan. Many kind friends, native and European, came to stay about me till the last; in fact, my farewells threatened to assume the character of a demonstration.
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