ought of an answer, and it filled him with apprehension. The animal
was evidently in eager haste. It was snuffing the wind in its progress
forward; something ahead seemed to be attracting it. What could this
something be but its home, the tent from which it had strayed, the
dwelling of its owner? And who could that owner be but one of those
cruel denizens of the desert they had been taking such pains to avoid?

The sailor was allowed but little time for conjectures; for almost on
the instant of his shaping this, the very first one, the maherry shot
suddenly round the hip of a hill, bringing him in full view of a
spectacle that realized it.

A small valley, or stretch of level ground enclosed by surrounding
ridges, lay before him; its gray, sandy surface interspersed by a few
patches of darker color, which the moon, shining brightly from a blue
sky, disclosed to be tufts of tussock-grass and mimosa bushes.

These, however, did not occupy the attention of the involuntary visitor
to that secluded spot; but something else that appeared in their
midst,--something that proclaimed the presence of human beings.

Near the centre of the little valley half a dozen dark objects stood up
several feet above the level of the ground. Their size, shape, and color
proclaimed their character. They were tents,--the tents of a Bedouin
encampment. The old man-o'-war's-man had never seen such before; but
there was no mistaking them for anything else,--even going as he was at
a speed that prevented him from having a very clear view of them.

In a few seconds, however, he was near enough to distinguish something
more than the tents. They stood in a sort of circle of about twenty
yards in diameter, and within this could be seen the forms of men,
women, and children. Around were animals of different sorts,--horses,
camels, sheep, goats, and dogs, grouped according to their kind, with
the exception of the dogs, which appeared to be straying everywhere.
This varied tableau was distinctly visible under the light of a full,
mellow moon.

There were voices,--shouting and singing. There was music, made upon
some rude instrument. The human forms,--both of men and women,--were in
motion, circling and springing about. The sailor saw they were dancing.

He heard, and saw, all this in a score of seconds, as the maherry
hurried him forward into their midst. The encampment was close to the
bottom of the hill round which the camel had carried him. He had