64 JOURNEYS IN PERSIA LETTER xvni

beating him and finally got him down. I leapt back to
my own camp, where Hassan and Karim were taking a
parting smoke, and ordered them to the rescne. The
soldier rushed into the m&lfo, armed with only a cane,
which was broken at once, and the Bakhtiaris got him by
his thick hair, and all but forced him down; but he
fought like a bulldog, and so did Hassan, who was unarmed
and got two bad cuts. Dashed too into the fray Hadji
Hussein, who fought like a bull, followed by his muleteers
and by Abbas Ali, who, being early knocked down, hung
on to a man's arm with his teeth. The Sahib, who was
endeavouring to make peace, was untouched, possibly
because of his lineage and faith, and he yelled to Mirza
(who in a fight is of no account) to run for the Agha,
whose presence is worth fifty men.

Meanwhile a number of Zalakis, armed, two with
guns and the rest with loaded sticks, crowded round me,
using menacing gestures and calling me a Kafir, on
which I took my revolver out of the holster, and very
slowly examined the chambers, though I knew well that
all were loaded. This had an excellent effect. They fell
back, and were just dispersing when over the crest of the
hill cantered Aziz Khan, followed by the Agha, who, gal-
loping down the slope, fired a revolver twice over the head
of a man who was running away, who, having stolen a
sheep, and being caught in the act by Mujid, had begun
the fray. Aslam Khan followed, and, the men say, gave
the order to fire, but recalled it on finding that one of his
tribesmen had been the aggressor. I thought he took the
matter very coolly, and he almost immediately told Mirza
to ask me for a penknife!

After this we started, the orders being for the caravans
to keep well together, and if we were absolutely attacked
to " fire." After ascending a spur of the Kala Kuh we
left the track for an Ilyat camp on a steep hill among