I should have been delighted with him on the whole, if he had not been quarrelsome and had not expected us, as his companions, to extricate him from the strife in which his arrogance involved him.

We dreaded the arrival at a town or village.

If he had possessed the prowess of his courage, which was absolutely reckless, he would have been a more endurable, if dread, companion.

But in almost every quarrel which he brought upon himself he got the worst of it, and was severely beaten, and then would talk to us about the honour of the Arabs till we fell asleep.
One night in the small town of Mazarib we rescued him from two Circassian bravoes whom he had insulted wantonly.

They had nearly stopped his mouth for ever when we intervened.