as to have a store of food somewhere in his body to last
all that time.

CHAPTER XII

The Camel and the Thief

Now I shall tell you a story about a camel and a thief. It is a true
story, and happened many, many years ago. The story shows what we can
learn by watching the animals.

Once upon a time, a traveler was going on foot across the country. In
his belt he had a purse full of money. One day, as the sun began to
get hot, he lay down on the grass under a tree near the roadway, and
fell asleep.

After a few hours he woke up, and what was his surprise to find that
the purse was gone! While he was asleep, somebody had quietly stolen
his purse and gone away.

The traveler ran to the nearest village, and there told the police
about it. Now, among the police there was a very clever man, and the
police brought him with them to the place where the money had been
stolen. The clever man looked all around the place very carefully to
see if he could find any marks on the ground. On the grass near the
tree he found no marks; in fact, if a person walks on the grass just
once or twice it does not leave any mark. But on the roadway near by
he found footprints.

"They are a camel's footprints," he said, looking at the marks
carefully. "And the marks of all the four feet are not quite the same.
Three of them are quite deep and clear; but the fourth one is very
faint."

He followed the camel's footprints along the road for a long time. But
now and again he stopped and looked at the shrubs and bushes which
grew here and there, on both sides of the road.

"Hello, that is strange!" he suddenly said. "The camel has eaten from
the bushes and shrubs here and there on the left side of the road, but
he hasn't eaten at all from those on the right side of the road."

He went on for some time longer, then suddenly stopped to look at the
road where the camel had walked.

"Hello, this is also strange!" he said. "Here are a lot of _bees_
buzzing near the ground on the _right_ side of the road. And here are
a lot of _ants_ scrambling over the ground on the _left_ side of the
road."

"Never mind about the camel, and the bees and the ants," the
policemen said impatiently. "We want to know about the thief who stole
the money. You have not found any other footprints except the
camel's?"

"That is quite true," the clever man said. "But as the _camel_ could
not steal the money, there must be a _man_ riding on the camel. He
must