nd was never without a cigarette in his mouth. He helped Omar more or
less, and was responsible for much loss of temper on our parts, before we
parted. Another saint by heredity, Mulai Ombach, looked after our camel,
which carried the heavy baggage. Our fourth and last man, Mohammed, drove
a donkey, nominally for the purpose of carrying provender for the mules
and camel, but which often as not bore either Mulai Ombach or Mohammed
himself. The two principal servants, Omar and Said, rode two mules, which
carried light loads as well.

We hired a couple of Moorish men's saddles for our own use, red-clothed,
high-peaked, and well stuffed; also two big tents--one for the servants,
one for ourselves. Our commissariat was not hard to manage, helped out
with stores we had brought from Tangier; for bearing in mind Napoleon's
truism that "the army marches on its stomach," we had laid in an ample
supply.

Eleven o'clock saw us finally under way on the morning of the 31st. We
had intended to start at nine; but any one who has ever travelled and
camped out knows the difficulty of getting away upon that first
morning--the final wrench between the servants and their old
surroundings, the dozen petty obstacles. In this case one of the mules
hired for baggage turned out to be in a wretched condition when it came
to the hotel, and another had to be found in its place--no easy matter.
The camel was started off at half-past ten with our beds, bedding,
cuisine necessaries, part of the tents, and chairs and table; but, to our
disgust, Mulai Ombach, its driver, stopped short at the bazaar, and there
we found them both when we rode through the city. They were hurried up,
and the whole party seen safely through the city gates; but once outside,
the camel was so slow that we left them behind, R. and myself jogging
ahead with Mulai Omar and Said, trusting that the heavy baggage would
catch us up at lunch-time. One more delay--outside the Jewish cemetery
was standing, waiting for us, the wife of Said: many tears were flowing,
and sobs to be heard under the haik. Said produced some dollars, which
were no doubt intended to last her during her husband's absence: he then
rode on without attempting a farewell, and we were really off at last.

For the first five miles we hugged the coast in a northerly direction,
keeping close to the sea: the tide was high; in one place, where we made
a short cut, resulting in rather a nasty bit of riding, we were actua