ad several times looked out from his tent to see how the work
was getting on. "My capture was indeed a fortunate one, Amina," he said.
"Never did I see men work as they have done this afternoon. Three times
the usual amount of water has been poured over the field; truly he is a
treasure."

When the slaves had ceased work they went to the lower end of the
valley, where, on some ground covered with coarse grass, separated from
the growing crops by a thorn hedge, a herd of goats and some twenty
camels were grazing, and proceeded to milk the females. Edgar was a
passive spectator, for the animals all showed their aversion to his
white skin, and would not let him approach them. When the work was over
they returned to the tents with the calabashes of milk, and were
rewarded for their extra work with large platefuls of meal. Before
eating his share Edgar filled a tin pannikin Amina had given him for his
special use with water, boiled it over the fire, and dropped in a
spoonful of tea, and going up to Amina asked for a little milk, which
she readily gave him, surprised that a spoonful or two was all that he
required.

"If I use it sparingly," he said to himself as he sat down to his meal,
"that ten pounds of tea will last me over a year, and before it is gone
I hope I shall see some way of getting off." As soon as he had finished
it the woman whose child was ill came to him and took him off to see
her. She was, as even Edgar could see, better; her skin was soft and her
pulse was quieter, but she was evidently very weak. The woman held out a
bowl of the arrow-root, and signified that she would not eat it, which
Edgar was not surprised at, for it was thick and lumpy.

"I suppose the water didn't boil," he said to himself. "No wonder the
poor little beggar cannot eat that stuff. I should think the Liebig
would be the best for her, at any rate better than this stuff. I will
get a tin or two from Amina, or rather she had better get it; I don't
want to be always asking for things."

He had noticed where he had thrown the little pot the evening before,
brought it to the woman, and then pointing to the sheik's tent said,
"You fetch."

The woman understood and went off, and presently returned with two of
the pots. Boiling water was required. This is not an item to be found in
an Arab tent. Edgar therefore boiled some in his own tin over the fire
in front of the sheik's tent, and showed the woman how much of the paste
was to be use