liar swinging stride
of those sons of the desert. As he strode backwards and forwards he drew
nearer and nearer to the little knot of officers, till at last, as he
swept by, the flying folds of his burnous brushed against one of the
officers. "D---- that nigger's impudence!" said the officer; "if he does
that again, I'll kick him." To his surprise the dignified Arab suddenly
halted, wheeled round, and exclaimed, "Well, d---- it, Hawkins, that's
a fine way to welcome a fellow after two year's absence." "It's Ruffian
Dick!" cried the astonished officer. [135]

Perhaps to this period must be assigned the bastinado incident. Burton
used to tell the tale [136] as follows: "Once, in Egypt, another man
and I were out duck shooting, and we got separated. When I next came in
sight of the other man some Turkish soldiers had tied him up and were
preparing to administer the bastinado. As I hurried to his assistance he
said something to the Turks which I could not catch, and pointed to me.
Instantly they untied him and pouncing upon me, tried to put me in his
place, while my companion took to his heels. As they were six to one,
they succeeded, and I had the very unpleasant experience of being
bastinadoed. The first dozen or two strokes I didn't mind much, but at
about the ninetieth the pain was too excruciating for description. When
they had finished with me I naturally enquired what it was all for. It
seems that my companion when firing at a duck had accidentally shot an
Egyptian woman, the wife of one of the soldiers. Upon my appearance he
had called out in Turkish to the soldiers: 'It was not I who fired the
shot, it was that other fellow,' pointing to me. The blackguard has
taken good care to keep out of my way ever since."

27. Burton's Delight in Shocking.

The story of Burton's adventures having spread abroad, people now took
the trouble to invent many incidents that were untrue. They circulated,
for example, a grisly tale of a murder which he was understood to have
committed on a man who had penetrated his disguise, [137] and, the
tale continuing to roll, the murder became eventually two murders.
Unfortunately, Burton was cursed with a very foolish habit, and one that
later did him considerable harm. Like Lord Byron, he delighted to shock.
His sister had often reproved him for it after his return from India,
but without effecting a change. Kindly listeners hardly knew how to take
him, while the malicious made misch