Desert. He looked so
bewildered--and no wonder--almost terror-stricken, that when he was asked
about his camels, the desert, the amount of pay required, he sulkily
mumbled that he had no camels, knew nothing whatever about the desert,
and did not wish to receive any pay.

"Why, then, did you come here?"

"I did not come here!"

"But you are here."

"I want to go away."

"Yes, sahib," cried the chorus of Persians, "he has the camels, he knows
the desert; only he is frightened, as he has never spoken to a sahib
before."

Here a young Hindoo merchant, Mul Chan Dilaram, entered the room, and
with obsequious salaams to the company, assured me that he had brought
this camel man to me, and that when he had got over his first fears I
should find him an excellent man. While we were all listening to the
Hindoo's assurances the camel man made a bolt for the door, and escaped
as fast as he could lay his legs to the ground towards the city.

He was chased by the soldiers, and after some time was dragged back.

"Why did you run away?" he was asked.

"Sahib," he replied, almost crying, "I am only a man of the desert; my
only friends are my camels; please have pity on me!"

"Then you have camels, and you do know the desert; you have said so in
your own words."

The camel man had to agree, and on being assured that he would be very
well paid and treated, and have a new pair of shoes given him, and as
much tea brewed for him on the road, with as much sugar in it as his
capacity would endure, he at last said he would come. The Hindoo, with
great cunning, at once seized the hand of the camel man in his own and
made him swear that death should descend upon himself, his camels and his
family if he should break his word, or give me any trouble. The camel man
swore. An agreement was hastily drawn up before he had time to change his
mind, and a handsome advance in solid silver was pressed into his hands
to make the agreement good and to allay his feelings. When requested to
sign the document the camel man, who had sounded each coin on the
doorstep, and to his evident surprise found them all good, gaily dipped
his thumb into the inkstand and affixed his natural mark, a fine smudge,
upon the valuable paper, and licked up the surplus ink with his tongue.
The man undertook to provide the necessary camels and saddles, and to
take me across the Salt Desert in a north-easterly direction, the only
way by which, he said, it was possible t