s disappeared, and I was alone on the
dark sea, for all I knew, miles away from land."

CHAPTER XII

"I kept on rowing until daylight, when ahead of me I saw a streak of
land. It was a great way off, so I rested and ate before recommencing
my rowing. I was afraid to stop for fear a storm should spring up and
wreck my small craft.

"It was early evening when I finally reached land, which was a rocky
shore backed by high cliffs and mountains.

"I landed on the barren shore very stiff and weary, with my hands
blistered and bleeding, and stumbled a short distance up the steep
mountain path.

"I had not gone far before I met two shepherds who were eating their
evening meal at the door of a little hut at one side of the path. I
must have looked rather ill, for they both got up and took me into the
hut and were very kind to me. They gave me a big bowl of warm broth,
some oaten cakes, and made me stay the night with them. I tried to
tell them of my adventure, but as they spoke a strange tongue they
could not understand me. I made up my mind that I had better stay with
them until I could find out where I was.

"The chief business of that mountainous country is sheep raising and
weaving baskets from a very pliable kind of shrub that grows on the
slopes of the mountains. I hired as a shepherd to a sheep rancher, and
also began to learn to weave baskets to while away the time as I
watched the sheep. Before long I learned the language, which is a very
simple one, and found that I was in Aeda Land, but that the desert I
sought lay far to the south, through the mountain passes. It was
already winter high up in the mountains, and the passes were full of
snow, so I would be obliged to wait until spring before going on.

"I settled down to wait and soon became so skilful at weaving that I
could make more baskets in a couple of days than many of the older
weavers could make in a week.

"Early in the spring the merchant ships arrived for their annual cargo
of wool and baskets, and after I had sold my baskets I found that I had
added quite a nice little sum in silver to my store of gold.

"The snow had now all melted in the mountain passes, so I said good-bye
to my kind friends the shepherds, giving each of them a tiny basket as
a keepsake, in which I had hidden some gold pieces, packed a knapsack,
and set off on foot for the desert country.

"It was a long walk up the steep mountain path, but after two days'
jou