e were running--but of which, as I
have observed, neither of us thought at the time. We did our best to
keep awake, however, and after, as we supposed, an hour had elapsed,
began anxiously to look out for Ben.

The time passed by. "I say, Charlie, I am sure Ben has been gone more
than an hour," said Halliday in a drowsy tone. I scarcely understood
what he said; I tried to arouse myself--he repeated his remark.

"We must wait for him, at all events," I answered. "So, I say, keep
awake, and rouse me up should you find me dropping off to sleep." But
poor Halliday was even more sleepy than I was; and in another minute we
must both have dropped off.

We had been sleeping, I suppose, for some time, when I was aroused by
feeling a hand on my arm; and opening my eyes, I saw a black fellow
scantily clothed standing over me. He put his hand on my mouth, as a
sign that I must not cry out, showing the blade of a sharp dagger--which
he drew from his side--to enforce his commands. I saw that another had
hold of Halliday; while, to my sorrow, I found that they had also
secured Ben. His hands, poor fellow, were tied behind him;
notwithstanding which, he was making the most strenuous efforts to
escape--though it would have availed him nothing had he succeeded, as he
could not have rescued us, and must either have fallen into the hands of
other Arabs or have died of starvation.

Compelling us to get up, our captors next secured our hands in the same
fashion as they had done Ben's, and ordered us to move on. Instead of
taking us to the camp, however, they began to drag us away in the
opposite direction, towards the sea-shore, hurrying us along as fast as
they could run,--making it evident that our captors did not belong to
the camp we had seen, and were anxious to get a distance from it before
daylight. In vain, therefore, did we try to get near Ben, to ask him if
he had seen Boxall, and to learn what had happened.

I found, on looking up at the stars, that after going a short distance
they turned off to the south-west, keeping on the harder and more
elevated ground, but still verging towards the coast. This strengthened
my conviction that they belonged to a different tribe from those in the
camp, and that they had been on a marauding expedition when they fell in
with us. Perhaps they believed that we belonged to their enemies, and
hence their anxiety to hurry us away from the camp.

Day had just dawned when we saw befor