I thought there would be time enough to cut off his head, and so brought him with me.

If I am mistaken, the ceremony can take place here as well as there; what is postponed is not abandoned." The interpreter Ventura was summoned to question the Bedouin.

He replied that he had saved the life of a French officer who had been grievously wounded at the Gate of Victory, and that this officer, who spoke a little Arabic, claimed to be one of General Bonaparte's aides-de-camp.
He had sent him to his brother who was a physician in a neighboring tribe, of which this officer was a captive; and if they would promise to spare his life, he would write to his brother to send the prisoner to Cairo.
Perhaps this was a tale invented to gain time, but it might also be true; nothing was lost by waiting.
The Arab was placed in safe keeping, a scribe was brought to write at his dictation.

He sealed the letter with his own seal, and an Arab from Cairo was despatched to negotiate the exchange.

If the emissary succeeded, it meant the Bedouin's life and five hundred piastres to the messenger.
Three days later he returned bringing Roland.