were ever ready to drive off each
other's camels or horses. Cuthbert determined that if flight was
possible, it must be undertaken during the interval after the arrival at
the halting-place and before the bringing in of the camels. Therefore,
each day upon the halt he had pretended great fatigue from the rough
motion of the camel, and had, after hastily eating the dates handed to
him, thrown himself down, covered himself with his Arab robe, and
feigned instant sleep. Thus they had in the three days from starting
come to look upon his presence sleeping close to them as a matter of
course.

The second day after entering the desert, however, Cuthbert threw
himself down by the side of an uprooted shrub of small size and about
his own length. He covered himself as usual with his long, dark-blue
robe, and pretended to go to sleep. He kept his eyes, however, on the
alert through an aperture beneath his cloth, and observed particularly
the direction in which the camel upon which he had set his mind wandered
into the bushes. The darkness came on a very few minutes after they had
halted, and when the Arabs had once settled round their fire Cuthbert
very quietly shifted the robe from himself to the long low bush near
him, and then crawled stealthily off into the darkness.

He had no fear of his footfall being heard upon the soft sand, and was
soon on his feet, looking for the camels. He was not long in finding
them, or in picking out the one which he had selected. The bushes were
succulent, and close to the camping-ground; indeed, it was for this that
the halting-places were always chosen. It was not so easy, however, to
climb into the high wooden saddle, and Cuthbert tried several times in
vain. Then he repeated in a sharp tone the words which he had heard the
Arabs use to order their camels to kneel, striking the animal at the
same moment behind the fore-legs with a small switch. The camel
immediately obeyed the order to which he was accustomed, and knelt down,
making, however, as he did so, the angry grumble which those creatures
appear to consider it indispensable to raise when ordered to do
anything. Fortunately this noise is so frequently made, and the camels
are so given to quarrel among themselves that although in the still air
it might have been heard by the Arabs sitting a short hundred yards
away, it attracted no notice, and Cuthbert, climbing into the seat,
shook the cord that served as a rein, and the animal, rising,