ravellers were moving on up the beach, as if they had seen nothing
that called upon them to deviate from their course.

Fortunately for the four "stowaways," it was not the sparkle of the lens
that had caused them to make that stop. A ravine, or opening through the
sand-ridges, much larger than that in which our adventurers were
concealed, _emboucheed_ upon the beach, some distance below. It was the
appearance of this opening that had attracted the attention of the two
mounted men; and from their gestures Colin could tell they were talking
about it, as if undecided whether to go that way or keep on up the
strand.

It ended by the yellow man putting spurs to his horse, and galloping off
up the ravine, followed by the black man on the camel.

From the way in which both behaved,--keeping their eyes generally bent
upon the ground, but at intervals gazing about over the country,--it was
evident they were in search of something, and this would be the
she-camel that lay tethered in the bottom of the sand-gorge, close to
the spot occupied by our adventurers.

"They've gone off on the wrong track," said Colin, taking his eye from
the glass as soon as the switch tail of the maherry disappeared behind
the slope of a sand-dune. "So much the better for us. My heart was at my
mouth just a minute ago. I was sure it was all over with us."

"You think they haven't seen the shine of the lens?" interrogated Harry.

"Of course not; or else they'd have come on to examine it. Instead,
they've left the beach altogether. They've gone inland, among the hills.
They're no longer in sight."

"Good!" ejaculated Terence, raising his head over the ridge, as did also
the others.

"Och! good yez may well say, Masther Terence. Jist look fwhot fools
we've been all four av us! We never thought av the thracks, nayther wan
nor other av us!"

As Bill spoke, he pointed down towards the beach, in the direction in
which he had made his late crawling excursion. There, distinctly
traceable in the half-wet sand, were the marks he had made both going
and returning, as if a huge tortoise or crocodile had been dragging
itself over the ground.

The truth of his words was apparent to all. It was chance and not their
cunning that had saved them from discovery. Had the owner of the camel
but continued another hundred yards along the beach, he could not have
failed to see the double "trail" made by the sailor, and of course would
have followed it to the spot w