en at all; while Chamis, riding as a rear guard, appeared at a
distance not greater than the vulture lying on the ground.

"Fata Morgana," said Stas to himself.

In the meantime Idris approached him and shouted:

"Heigh! Speed your camel! You see Medinet!"

He evidently spoke jokingly and there was so much spite in his voice
that the last hope that the real Medinet was before him vanished in the
boy's heart.

And with sorrow in his heart he turned to Nell to dispel her delusion,
when unexpectedly an incident occurred which drew the attention of all
in another direction.

At first a Bedouin appeared, running towards them at full speed and
brandishing from afar a long Arabian rifle which no one in the caravan
possessed before that time. Reaching Idris, he exchanged a few hurried
words with him, after which the caravan turned precipitately into the
interior of the desert. But, after a time, the other Bedouin appeared
leading by a rope a fat she-camel, with a saddle on its hump and
leather bags hanging on its sides. A short conversation commenced, of
which Stas could not catch a word. The caravan in full speed made for
the west. It halted only when they chanced upon a narrow khor full of
rocks scattered in wild disorder, and of fissures and caverns. One of
these was so spacious that the Sudanese hid the people and camels in
it. Stas, although he conjectured more or less what had happened, lay
beside Idris and pretended to sleep, hoping that the Arabs, who thus
far had exchanged but a few words about the occurrence, would now begin
to speak about it. In fact, his hope was not disappointed, for
immediately after pouring out fodder for the camels, the Bedouins and
the Sudanese with Chamis sat down for a consultation.

"Henceforth we can ride only in the night; in the daytime we will have
to hide!" spoke out the one-eyed Bedouin. "There will be many khors now
and in each one of them we will find a safe hiding-place."

"Are you sure that he was a sentinel?" asked Idris.

"Allah! We spoke with him. Luckily there was only one. He stood hidden
by a rock, so that we could not see him, but we heard from a distance
the cry of his camel. Then we slackened our speed and rode up so
quietly that he saw us only when we were a few paces away. He became
very frightened and wanted to aim his rifle at us. If he had fired,
though he might not have killed any of us, the other sentinels would
have heard the shot; so, as hurriedly as pos