and there accepted, everything that he asked for
was conceded, when suddenly, probably believing that all this was too
good to come true, he backed out of the bargain and positively refused to
go. Had I chosen to go by the southern route, skirting the desert _via_
Bam, the difficulty would not have been so great, but that route is very
easy, and had been followed by several Europeans at different times, and
I declined to go that way.

I was beginning to despair when Sadek, who had spent another day hunting
in the various caravanserais, entered my room, and with a broad grin on
his generally stolid countenance, proclaimed that he had found some good
camels. To corroborate his words a clumsy and heavy-footed camel man,
with a face which by association had become like that of the beasts he
led, was shoved forward into the room.

He was a striking figure, with an ugly but singularly honest countenance,
his eyes staring and abnormally opened, almost strained--the eyes of a
man who evidently lived during the night and slept during the day. His
mouth stretched, with no exaggeration, from ear to ear, and displayed a
double row of powerful white teeth. What was lacking in quantity of nose
was made up by a superabundance of malformed, shapeless ears, which
projected at the sides of his head like two wings. When his legs were
closed--_pour facon de parler_--they were still some six inches apart,
and a similar space was noticeable between each of his arms and his body.
Unmistakably this fellow was the very picture of clumsiness.

He seemed so much distracted by the various articles of furniture in the
Consul's room that one could get no coherent answer from him, and his
apprehension gave way to positive terror when he was addressed in flowing
language by the various high officials who were then calling on the
Consul. Their ways of persuasion by threats and promises alarmed the
camel man to such an extent that his eyes roamed about all over the
place, palpably to find a way to effect an escape. He was, however, so
clumsy at it, that the consul's servants and soldiers checked him in
time, and Sadek broke in with one of his usual flows of words at the top
of his voice, which, however, could hardly be heard amid the vigorous
eloquence of the Persians present, who all spoke at the same time, and at
an equally high pitch.

With a sinking heart I closely watched the camel man, in whom rested my
faint and last hope of crossing the Salt