ersation with the peasant as to the routes down to
the sea. They learned that so far they had been coming in the right
direction, and that some thirty miles farther they would come upon a
track leading down to Tokar.

"You must look well for it," he said; "it is never greatly traversed,
and since the troubles all trade has ceased, and you may well cross the
track without noticing it."

"Have you any in the village who know the track?" Edgar asked.

"There are several here who have been down to Tokar, my lord."

"We will give ten yards of good cloth to one who will go and set us on
the road. We will take him behind one of our camels, and as we shall
start at daybreak he can be back here before nightfall. I suppose when
we once find the track it will not be difficult to follow it."

"I can doubtless find a guide," the peasant said; "he can give you
instructions as to the path, or he could go with you, if you choose,
still further, to show you the way. I will go and find you such a man."

An active-looking young native presently arrived, and said that he was
willing to be their guide to the point where the track left the high
lands and entered the gorges leading down towards the sea. It was, he
said, four days camels' march beyond the point where they would strike
the track, and he would accompany them this distance for forty yards of
cotton cloth. The bargain was struck at once, and the following morning
they started, the guide riding behind Edgar.

As there was no occasion for haste, and the camels might be required to
exert their utmost speed when they reached the low country, the journey
was performed by three easy stages, the distances being about forty
miles each day. It was well that they had a guide with them, for the
track was in most places entirely obliterated.

"You cannot miss your way now," the native said at their last
halting-place by some shallow wells. "This depression leads straight
down to the pass. It is two days' march hence to the lower plains. When
the valley at last opens on them you will be about ten miles west of
Tokar."

The next morning the guide started on his return journey. The cloth had
been given to him before starting, and he now carried a few pounds of
grain and a small bag full of dried dates for his five days' journey
back to his village.

The journey down the gorges was an arduous one. The path had been swept
away by the last season's rains, and in some places where the val