and walked on shore, where I laid down and
rolled for ten minutes.

Since leaving Suez I had not had a chance
of such a cleaning. I now looked about me. The
blacks were shoving my friends out of the six
dhows into the water. Most of them made for
land, but a few were idiots and swam out to
sea. Some of these found out their mistake,
some were chased back by boats, three or
four were drowned. I saw the bodies of six
mules, three camels, and one horse at the brink
of the sea close to where I landed. Several
live camels were in the water, some standing,
some sitting, and one drinking. I was
afterwards informed that those who either stood
long in the water, or drank much of it
generally died, and that they had been in the first
place frenzied by excessive thirst.

I noticed that about fifty light-brown men, who
had each one or two halters, were catching
the mules. Most of us had landed without
halters, which of course made us more difficult
to seize; but we were all so bewildered by
novelty that we could easily have been caught
had the men taken any trouble with their task;
but there was only one, a little white fellow on
a pony, who seemed to care a fig what became
of us. He appeared to command the others,
and had a long whip with which he beat the
men more than the mules. The white fellow
tried to noose the lash of his whip round my
neck; but I had made up my mind to be free
for that night, at least, so I kicked up my heels
and bolted.

I then cantered forward a quarter of a mile,
and found that I was on sandy land, upon
which grew green bushes; and although I
could munch the bushes, they were poor
eating. Two camels whom I passed, were
browsing upon them with great relish. I was,
however, neither hungry nor thirsty, but glad
to lie down upon firm land. About this time
the sun set, and darkness followed almost
immediately. I dropped into a deep slumber.
When I awoke, a wind had sprung up, which
blew before it large clouds of dust. Two jackals
were sniffing at my hind legs. Watching my
opportunity, I sprang on my legs, and jumped
towards the larger of the pair; my fore-legs
came down upon his neck. Before he could
recover from his surprise, I bit one of his
limbs nearly through, and then turning my heels
upon him, broke his skull with repeated kicks.

The excitement and exertion consequent
upon being thus disturbed in my sleep, by
vermin, roused me thoroughly. I stood erect,
listening to the yelps of the packs of jackals
who at night in this country invariably draw
near the precincts of the quarters of us
civilised creatures. Sometimes I heard the hoarser
cry of a hyena. After a while, I again lay
down, and slept till morning. At sunrise I felt
hungry, and, judging that little food could be
got in the open country, went down to look for
my breakfast among the abodes of men. I
walked quietly to the point where I saw most
dwellings; this was close to the water, and
there  were huge piles of most excellent
provender. It was guarded by men who drove
other animals away; but by judicious
reconnoitering I discovered a large bag separated
from the rest, which I knew, from its smell, to
contain chopped straw. With my teeth and
fore-foot I soon tore open the bag, and made a
hearty meal; after this I essayed to quench my
thirst, but found the sea to be undrinkable.

I addressed myself to two mules employed
on the contents of the bag I had left. One of
them, a huge grey Italian, intimated that there
was drinking water at five minutes distance. I
walked in the direction he had mentioned and
saw over five hundred mules gathered around
a dozen large iron tanks filled with water which
ran into wooden troughs surrounding them.

The mules were chained together by threes
or fives, each string being attended by one man.
Now, every mule wanted to drink first and every
muleteer wanted to have his animals watered
first. The troughs, when, full, would give room
for forty mules to drink at a time,but as they were
usually worked they would water only twenty.
There was no sort of order kept; mules and
men pressed indiscriminately towards the water;
the string of mules got entangled; the four-
footed people bit and kicked, while the two-
footed swore a good deal and fought a little.
Besides the mules tied up and escorted by
drivers, there were about a hundred who, like
myself, were loose. Half of these were nearly
mad with thirst, and, reckless of consequences,
forced their way through the throng. A loose
mule had a great advantage in not being tied to
companions; on the other hand every man's
hand was against him, and although he might,
and often did, force his way to the troughs, the
moment he dipped his mouth into the water,
one or two nasty muleteers would strike at his
nose with sticks. I have seen animals so thirsty
that they would even when heavily belaboured
on their nostrils, go on drinking; but unless a
mule is really dying for want of water he cannot
endure the pain of blows on so tender a place.

At length the captive mules grew fewer, and
we who were free had a chance of getting
comfortably to the troughs. About eighty of us were
left, and the water was still flowing into one of
the troughs at which about a dozen of us could
have stood in comfort. But as we all struggled
and fought to be helped first, a good deal was
spilled, and when not more than half of us had
drunk I heard one of the men on the tanks say,
"I think we have been pumping long enough
for these stray mules; let us go, mates, and look
after our dinners." Shortly afterwards the
water ceased to flow, and this was especially
unlucky for me, as I had a few minutes before,
by dint of biting, forced my way to the troughs,
and with the aid of my heels had kept my
position only long enough to lap up about half
what I should have liked to drink. But there
was no more water, so I trotted away to find
food. Moving off in a hitherto unexplored
direction, I had walked for a quarter of an
hour when I saw several long rows of mules.