many of the Arabs, would instantly betray him.

The perspiration was soon streaming from him at every pore, but he well
knew that any display of weakness would only excite the contempt of his
captors, and although he was several times well-nigh falling from
fatigue he kept on until, when many miles away from Metemmeh, the
natives slackened their pace and broke into a walk.

"I thought," Edgar muttered to himself, "that a good long run with the
hares and hounds at Cheltenham was pretty hard work, but it was nothing
to this. This climate does take it out of one and no mistake. There is
one thing, I have got to get accustomed to it, and am not likely to try
any other for some time."

They continued the journey until morning broke, and then turned off to
the left, and after miles of walking halted among some sand-hills
outside the zone of cultivated land. Edgar was ordered to go and find
some fuel, for the morning was cold, and even the Arabs felt the keen
air after their exertions. Edgar at once hurried away, and was fortunate
enough to find some dried stalks of maize in a field not far off.
Pulling it up by the roots he collected a large bundle and carried it on
his shoulder to the point where he had left the Arabs. An exclamation of
satisfaction greeted his arrival. The sheik produced a box of matches
from a corner of his cloth, for European goods were obtainable in
Metemmeh, and they had found several boxes in the house that they had
occupied. A fire was soon blazing, and the Arabs squatted closely around
it, while Edgar, tired out with his journey, threw himself on the ground
some distance away.

The sheik was in high spirits; he was, in the first place, glad that he
had had his way, and carried off his captive; and in the second, he
felt assured by the manner in which Edgar had kept up with them by the
way, and by the speed with which he had collected the materials for a
fire, that he would turn out a very useful slave. Before starting they
had partaken of a good meal, and each of them had carried off a bag of
five or six pounds in weight of dry dates from the merchant's store. A
few of these were eaten, and then the whole party lay down to sleep, the
sheik first rousing Edgar, and ordering him to lie down between him and
another Arab, tying a cord from his wrists to theirs, so that he could
not move without disturbing one or other of them.

A few hours' rest was taken, and then, with the sun blazing overhead,