e called back in Arabic that
he was a friend, and so passed on in the mist. At last he was out on
the open ground beyond both the castle and the little town by it.
Five minutes later the mist blew away; the sun shone; the castle was
passed, and the open plains lay before him. The mist had saved him.

In an hour he came to a large town named Orman on the edge of the
desert sandy plains; and here he stayed for some weeks. His horses
were sent back to Jerusalem. Instead of towns and villages of huts,
he would now find only the tents of wandering Arabs who had to keep
moving to find bits of sparse growth for their few sheep and camels.
While he was at Orman he managed to make friends with many of the
Arabs and with their Chief. He asked the Chief to help him on toward
Kaf--an oasis town across the desert.

"Don't go," the Chief and his people said, "the Arabs there are bad:
when we go we never let our rifles out of our hands."

So the old Chief told him of the dangers of the desert; death from
thirst or from the fiery Arabs of Kaf.

"I am trusting God to protect and keep me," said Forder. "I believe He
will do so."

So Forder handed the Chief most of his money to take care of, and
sewed up the rest into the waistband of his trousers. (It is as safe
as a bank to hand your money to an Arab chief who has entertained you
in his tent. If you have "eaten his salt" he will not betray or rob
you. Absolute loyalty to your guest is the unwritten law that no true
Arab ever breaks.)

_The Caravan of Two Thousand Camels_

At last the old Chief very unwillingly called a man, told him to get
a camel, load up Forder's things on it, and pass him on to the first
Arab tent that he found. Two days passed before they found a group
of Bedouin tents. He was allowed to sleep in a tent: but early in the
morning he woke with a jump. The whole of the tent had fallen right
on him; he crawled out. He saw the Arab women standing round; they had
pulled the tent down.

"Why do you do this so early?" he asked.

"The men," they replied, "have ordered us to move to another place;
they fear to give shelter to a Christian--one that is unclean and
would cause trouble to come on us."

So the tribesmen with their women and flocks made off, leaving Forder,
his guide, and the camel alone in the desert. That afternoon he found
a tent and heard that a great caravan was expected to pass that night
on the way to Kaf to get salt. Night fell; it was a full