Upon approaching them, I found that about one
hundred animals were in each line, fastened by
halters to a thick rope one hundred and twenty
yards long, of which the two ends and some
of the intervening parts were in the ground.

There was strewn on the ground before them
plenty of chopped straw, to which I directed
my attention. While so engaged, the drivers
came round with grain. I could not get at any
of what was in nose-bags, but secured to myself
a good share of what was shaken down upon the
ground. The other mules, who had allowed me
to eat as much as I would of the chopped straw,
strongly objected to my having a part of their
rations of corn; but what then? I was untied,
and could move as I chose. Occasionally a
muleteer shouted at me, and, of course, I let
him shout. If he came near me with a stick,
I simply trotted off and fed at another part
of the line.

As the mules were not all fed at, the same
time, but got their corn whenever it suited the
muleteers to attend to them, by visiting different
lines in succession, I ate well; but the heat was
great and my thirst increased hourly.

I betook myself again to the tanks, round
which a hundred other mules were waiting.
Several parties of animals with drivers soon
appeared, but on being told by a man who stood
on the tanks, "There will be no water this
afternoon," they went unwillingly away.

I tried the sea. Some slight relief I got
by lying down and bathing. One mule was
greedily drinking the sea water; the more he
drank the greater seemed to be the pain from
which he suffered. At length his limbs, which had
been gradually growing weaker, failed him
altogether; he fell on his knees, a wave threw him
on his side, and I saw him drown, as he had
not strength to recover his feet. This drove
me from the sea. During the night I saw
seven jackals on a dead horse, and thought that
to-morrow they would be on me. I came upon
a group of tents. It struck me water might be
found in them. I entered one, and soon smelt
water, but it was shut in a skin, which I
endeavoured to tread open; but it slipped away from
my hoofs, and the noise caused by my efforts
woke a man who had been sleeping. He drew
something from under his head, and I soon
heard the click of a pistol lock. Evidently I
was taken for a wild beast. But I had the
presence of mind to remain motionless, and the
man presently discovered that I was a civilised
being, like himself. He put the weapon back
under his pillow and shouted, " Get out!"
This intimation I obeyed; then, listening outside
until his regular breathing told me that he was
asleep, I again ventured in and tried to open
the water-skin; but a second time I awoke the
sleeper, who, rising, flung a bottle at me, and
then barricaded the entrance of his tent, so that
I could only put my head inside. This I did.
I remained, gazing at the skin for an hour;
when suddenly the bright idea flashed across my
mind that there might be perhaps worse guarded
water in some of the other tents. Acting upon
this thought, I proceeded to the largest of
them, where, oh ! bliss, my nose touched a
large tub full of water. It was brackish, but I
cared not for that. I felt, not that I was drinking,
but that life was re-entering my veins.
When I walked into the tent, it was only the
hope of finding water which enabled me to
drag my limbs ; but when I had exhausted the
supply in the tub I felt able to carry a camel up
the Pyrenees. Looking gaily around, I espied
in the corner a bucket, which, on trial, I found
to contain more water this time of most
excellent quality. I drank now, not for life,
but for pleasure, thoroughly relishing my liquor.
As I poked for the last mouthfuls, I upset the
bucket. This awoke somebody, who shouted,
" Who is there ?" upon which I judged it
prudent to walk out, passing over the two
gentlemen who lay stretched athwart the door.

The person I had disturbed soon had the
others awake, and told them there had been a
mule inside, and he wondered what it could
have been doing. " Try the water," said a
voice which I recognised as that of the colonel,
who had come to see us upon our arrival. " By
Jove, the washing water is gone!" cried one.
"And the drinking water too!" shouted another.
"That confounded mule must have swallowed
at least ten gallons." " Never mind," answered
the colonel, " I daresay it will do the poor brute
good. I wish every mule could have as much."

The sun now being up I made for the mule
lines to get breakfast.

The day before, a few very feeble attempts,
which I easily baffled, had been made to catch
me; but the agony of thirst I had endured
throughout the night determined me to let
myself be caught now, as I saw that a loose
mule in this country had little chance of anything
to drink. When, accordingly, a strong
bare-legged man with a halter in his hand
approached me, as I was feeding on some chopped
straw, I suffered him to slip the collar over
my head. He tied me to four other mules
and led us to water; he fought hard for us,
but we took an hour in getting to the
trough. While pushing through the crowd I
noticed a body of some sixty handsome mules
who were led by blacks; these kept together,
and some horsemen, dressed in blue, cleared,
but not without using their whips, a way for
their charges, who were quickly watered.

After drinking we were led to camp, and got
our grain; then we were saddled with Persian
saddles, which are soft and not uncomfortable
to bear, but very heavy, being over eighty
pounds in weight. My master, a Persian
muleteer, tied us together in a string of five, then
mounted a small pony, and seizing the halter
of the first mule, led the party.

Our employment for that day was to carry
bags of grain from the piles of forage to the
mule lines. Each bag weighed seventy-five
pounds, and we carried two. The distance
being about a mile, we made two trips in all,
and as far as the quadrupeds were concerned,
we might have undertaken more. However, as