s voice, and had
neither thought nor hands for the halter.

Once again the trailing end got into the split hoof, once again the
maherry was tripped up; and came down neck foremost upon the sand.

Its load was spilled, Bedouin and Hibernian coming together to the
ground, both, if not dangerously hurt, at least so shaken, as, for some
seconds to be deprived of their senses.

Neither had quite recovered from the shock, when Harry Blount and Colin,
coming up in close pursuit, stooped over the prostrate pair; and neither
Arab nor Irishman was very clear in his comprehension, when a crowd of
strange creatures closed around them, and took possession of the whole
party; as they did so yelling like a cohort of fiends.

In the obfuscation of his "sivin" senses, the young Irishman may have
scarcely understood what was passing around him. It was too clear to
his companions, clear as a catastrophe could be, to those who are its
victims.

The shot fired by the sheik, if failing in the effect intended, had
produced a result almost equally fatal to the three fugitives. It had
given warning to the Arabs in their encampment; who, again sallying
forth, had arrived just in time to witness the "decadence" of the camel,
and now surrounded the group that encircled it.

The courageous representative of England, and the cool young Scotchman,
were both taken by surprise, too much so to give them a chance of
thinking either of resistance or flight; while the mind of the Irish
middy, from a different cause, was equally in a hopeless "muddle."

It resulted in all three being captured, and conducted up the ravine
towards the camp of the wreckers.

CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE.

OUR ADVENTURERS IN UNDRESS.

Our adventurers made their approach to the _douar_, for such is the
title of an Arab encampment, with as much unwillingness as Sailor Bill
had done. Equally _sans ceremonie_, or even with less ceremony, did
they enter among the tents, and certainly in a less becoming costume:
since all three were stark naked, with the exception of their shirts.

This was the only article of clothing their captors had left upon their
backs; and so far as comfort was concerned, they would have been as well
without it: for there was not a thread of the striped cotton that was
not saturated with sea water.

It was a wonder that even these scanty garments were not taken from
them; considering the eagerness with which they had been divested of
everything el