I acted as his secretary and _aide-
de-camp_. My other business was to take care of the stable, see that
the horses were properly groomed, and look after any sick or wounded men.
My duties varied according to the place in which we halted for the night.
If it were near an inhabited place, Richard sat in state on his divan,
and received the chiefs with narghilehs and sherbet. I saluted, and
walked off with the horses, and saw that they were properly groomed
and fed. Sometimes I groomed my own horse and Richard's too, if I did
not feel sure that they would be properly attended to. I would then go
back to my husband, sit on the divan at a respectful distance and in a
respectful attitude, speak if spoken to, and accept, if invited, a little
sherbet or a narghileh. I then saluted, went again to see that the
horses were properly picketed for the night, prepared my husband's
supper, and returned to his tent for supper and bed; and the next day
the same over again. So far as I could I made myself useful, and
adapted myself to my surroundings as an Eastern woman would have done.
The next day, our eighth from leaving Damascus, we went out of camp at
6.30, and rode over the hot stony desert for five hours. Suddenly we
descried a small lake, but about one hundred and fifty Bedawin were there
before us. At first we thought it was a Ghazu; but we found afterwards
that it was only a party of one hundred and fifty watering their animals;
they could not attack us until they had time to collect their men, and
mustered some six hundred strong.
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