continue work. It is scarcely necessary to
say that the camel carries water for others
than itself; and that only at copious wells is
it allowed to drink.

The donkeys by their nature claimed better
treatment; and generally, when we halted
about evening time, a tin tray of water was
put under their noses. Sometimes, it is true,
they had to be satisfied with no more than a
draught once in forty-eight hours; and then,
poor things, they drooped, and we were obliged
to dismount and walk with their halters round
our arms. The rate at which a donkey travels
is about four miles to the hour; so that when
our animals were well refreshed we used to
ride on ahead and wait for the slow moving
caravan, enjoying our pipes, and sometimes
even making coffee, though rarely could a
patch of shade be found.

We were in motion at all hours of the day
and night. Whenever possible, we halted at
twelve, and rested till the assez, or about
three. Then we proceeded until sunset; and,
halting again, waited one, two, or three hours
for the rising of the moon, by favour of which
we completed our task. For every day it was
necessary to get over so much space, and any
failure, we knew, might lead to disaster.
There can be no dallying by the way in the
Desert. Water is taken in only for a definite
number of days; and the Bedouins are so
chary of their camels, that they almost always
miscalculate on the wrong side, and prepare
for a short period of suffering before the end
of the journey. On one occasion I remember
that, in order to advance more rapidly, they
actually emptied out a small supply we had
left, so that we were compelled to toil on,
beneath a sun that raised our thermometer to
above a hundred in the tent, for eight hours
without one single drop to wet our parched
lips withal. There was a well ahead. What
mattered a little suffering, if the camels were
eased of a few pounds weight? We arrived,
and were denied water by the Arabs during
a tedious parley. But the warning was
thrown away. The Desert has its routine;
and on no single occasion, I believe, was a
sufficient supply laid in.

On the particular occasion of which I speak
a rather serious ground of alarm had been
suggested. Some of the water-skins were
not so solid as they might be; and it was
possible that in the course of four or five days
they might run dry. The danger was as
great as that of a ship springing a leak a
thousand miles from land. Should we be left
without anything to drink in the midst of the
rocky range we had to traverse, there were
few chances of safety for even a remnant of
the party. However, we were off; and it
was best not to allow the mind to dwell on
all possible dangers. In an hour or so we got
rid of the seriousness, it could scarcely be
called gloom, that had come over us; and
regained the somewhat reckless confidence by
which we had been, until then, upheld.

The aspect of the Desert in that particular
spot was somewhat dreary. The ground over
which we moved was nearly level; but on
either hand were low stony ridges that
opened here and there, and allowed us to see
similar ridges beyond. Grey lady-birds,
butterflies of small size and sombre colour, and
lizards that darted to and fro, were the only
living things that presented themselves; but
as I have said, there were now and then
patches of meagre vegetation. Night at
length came on; but for some reason or
other our guides, instead of as usual waiting
for the moon, lighted a lantern and
endeavoured to follow the track by its means.
Presently they hesitated, stopped, went on
again, laid their heads together, separated on
either hand, shouted one to the other; and at
last when we, uncertain and anxious, halted
and called for an explanation, they admitted
that they had lost their way and were
perfectly unable to determine whether we ought
to advance or to retreat, to turn to the right
hand or to the left. Would it not be best to
stop and wait for the moon? The position
was exposed; and a cold bleak wind had
begun to blow. We moved on a little further,
and at length it was resolved to spread the
mat—no one talked of setting up the tent—
and watch or sleep until morning came.

The Bedouins did not then explain the reason
of their unusual anxiety. We afterwards
learned that there was only one pass through
the range of rocks that lay between us and
our place of destination, and that, once the
marked track missed, there existed no means
of making what seamen term " a good fall."
However, we were quite certain that things
had gone very wrong indeed; and those who
had most gaily made light of the dangers of
the desert—going to the extreme of
representing them as no greater than those which
may be encountered in an omnibus ride from
Pimlico to the Bank—now began to feel
penitent and humble. There is nothing we regret
so much as the insults we have foolishly
heaped on peril when it really presents itself.
The French peasant who had threatened to
take Satan by the nose, merely doffed his hat
when that gentleman appeared. For my
part, I tried to persuade myself that I had
been more reasonable than my companions;
and did continue to recollect that I had
expostulated with—— when he audaciously
sneered at the words of the poet—

    " Sad was the hour and luckless was the day,
    When first from Shiraz walls I bent my way."

The real state of the case was this: we
might utterly fail in falling into the track
again, such things having occurred, however
unlikely it might seem, seeing that we could
not have diverged above a mile; or we might
only succeed after we had exhausted a
considerable portion of our supply of water,
which might involve great privation towards
the end of the journey, or the necessity of