A messenger was dispatched to 'Akka by boat to demand assistance. In the mean time my brother, at the Governor's request, procured guns and ammunition from an English ship in the port. Our room was converted into an armory, and our stairway and terrace was soon crowded with applicants for arms, which were cautiously distributed. A Government secretary stood by, making a list of the names of the volunteers thus supplied. By sunset the excitement had greatly increased, and no one seemed to think of going to rest. The consuls kept a careful look-out on the walls, and men paraded the town by moonlight, shouting, "Our swords are strong, and our trust is in God!" And the boys, with their sticks uplifted, echoed the words at the top of their voices.
Several Arab women, my neighbors, came and sat with me when my brother went out. One of them brought a favorite Arab dish of bleached and crushed walnuts and vermicelli, baked in butter and sugar. It was eaten while hot. The women all wore full trowsers and tight jackets; some were made of colored prints, and others of striped Damascus silk. Katrîne's simple Bethlehem dress was quite strange to them—they had never seen the costume before. They smoked, and chatted, and laughed, and cried by turns; and retired, hastily vailing themselves, when my brother came in at midnight to tell me that fifty artillery men and thirty Bashi Bazûks had arrived from 'Akka in consequence of the consular protest. They were placed in proper positions as sentinels and patrols, and three or four hundred of the peasantry of a friendly village came to offer their assistance. Many of them were mounted on horses, and carried long spears; the rest had heavy guns. Altogether the little place looked quite warlike. Thus protected we slept in peace.
The next morning a large party of horsemen arrived from Shefa 'Amer and dismounted at our house; for they had come, they said, especially to protect the English Vice Consulate.
