and
Roger were both too tired to walk so far, and throwing themselves down
under the shelter of the bushes they fell asleep. The sun had already
risen high when Roger awoke, and on going to the top of the sandhill to
look out for the oasis, he saw between it and where he stood a number of
objects. He called Stephen, who joined him.

"There are two parties on camels and horses, it seems to me," said
Stephen, "one flying from the other."

Descending the sandhill they concealed themselves behind it lest they
should be discovered; but Roger, unable to restrain his curiosity, crept
on one side whence he could see what was taking place. The fugitives
had turned round to meet their pursuers; a fierce fight was going
forward, in which the camels on both sides seemed to be taking part by
kicking and leaping at each other, and he could hear their peculiar
cries amid the clash of the weapons and the shouts of the combatants.
Presently he saw a person, who had apparently been thrown from his
camel, come rushing at headlong speed towards the sandhill. Roger drew
back, and in another minute the stranger came round to where the party
lay. He was a mere boy, dressed in loose trousers, a silk jacket, a
shawl round his waist, and a turban on his head. His alarm at seeing
them was so great, that he was running on to avoid them, when Jumbo,
who, it will be remembered, spoke Arabic, called to him gently, telling
him that they were friends. On this he came and crouched down close to
them, trembling in every limb.

"Ask him from whom he was flying," said Stephen to Jumbo.

"From the Ouadelins, who carried me off from my father's camp," said the
young Arab.

"But were your friends not pursuing?" asked Stephen. Jumbo as before
put the question.

"No; those who attacked my captors are equally enemies of my people, and
had they taken me I should have fared worse than before," answered the
young Arab.

From the sounds which reached their ears Stephen and his companions knew
that the fight was still raging, but moving farther and farther from
where they lay. The young Arab could not refrain from trying to see
what was going on, and had not Roger pulled him back, would very likely
have been discovered. At length the sound ceased, and crawling to the
brow of the hillock, so as just to look over it, Roger saw the two
parties apparently still carrying on a straggling fight in the far
distance. They were by this time getting very hu