ed to be thankful for the information, but continued on
the track to the right, which seemed greatly to disturb him--at least,
judging by the number of times he entreated us to follow his advice.

Both Sadek and Abbas Ali corroborated my conviction that this was a trap
laid for us. The man, on seeing us go a different way from the one he
advised us, ran away, and presently we heard some shrill whistles which
were no doubt signals to his companions.

We had gone but another mile when suddenly a figure with a gun in hand
sprang before us and seized the camel man by the chest.

"Whose caravan is this?" he shouted.

"It is the _ferenghi's_," hastily replied the camel man.

There was a short pause in the conversation when our interlocutor,
looking up at my camel which had got close upon him, perceived himself
covered by my rifle.

Sadek had leapt off his camel as quick as lightning and shoved the muzzle
of his Winchester in the man's face. As the stranger's demeanour was most
peculiar and his answers incoherent as well as flippant, Sadek first
disarmed his adversary, then turned his own rifle the round way about
and gave the man a good pounding for his impertinence in holding up my
camel man. We heard a number of voices of people hidden all around. When
the fellow managed to effect an escape he gave an alarm signal, and we
saw a lot of black figures jump up and stampede for their lives.

This furnished a little variation in our dreary night marches, and we
proceeded briskly, Sadek, Abbas Ali and I being most grateful to our
unknown friends for the amusement they had provided us.

Some three miles further we came upon several caravans that had halted
and were hiding, for they were aware of robbers being about--they had
seen fresh tracks of their horses during the day and were in fear of
being attacked. At first when we appeared on the scene they mistook us
for brigands, and as we discovered them hidden we also mistook them for
robbers, so that the beginning of our interview did not lack in humour.

We had a hearty laugh over it all when their identity and ours were
established, and after a few minutes' halt we continued our journey on
soft sand, rather undulating, with frequent depressions in places. We
travelled the whole night of December 1st, passing to the right of the
salt deposits--which looked like a big stretch of country covered with
snow and threw out a certain luminosity, possibly because the salt
crystals