tood beside it, looking very small
indeed. The camel could have killed the man without any difficulty
whatever, but, instead of that, it bent its head and looked at him and
allowed its master to rub it between the ears.

The Afghan outside the fence was very excited. He muttered to himself,
and now and again shouted to his fellow-countryman: "Look out! Look
out, I tell you! That is only his way. It is all his bluff. Oh, he
is a very bad camel! Look out, I tell you!"

The man inside the paddock took no notice of these warnings, for they
were quite unnecessary. He stooped down and unfastened the hobbles
from the animal's fore feet, and stood up again with them in his hand,
and walked towards the fence where his companion was standing. The
camel stalked after him.

Then an absolutely unexpected thing happened. When Abul was about ten
yards from the fence, he made a sudden rush and grabbed his former
owner by the coat. It was all so quick that no one knew what had
occurred till they saw the huge camel walking round his enclosure with
the screaming man dangling from his mouth. The old camel was going to
have his revenge. He remembered his tormentor of ten years ago, and
was going to kill him.

Suddenly there came a sound of tearing cloth. The coat had torn. The
man sprawled on the ground for a moment, and then scrambled to his
feet. He made a dash for the fence, but the camel was too quick for
him. The terrified Afghan started to run and, as there was no way of
escape, he had to run round and round the paddock with the camel at his
heels. For a moment or two there was silence. The spectators were too
much amazed to speak, and the unfortunate man himself was using all his
breath in his effort to evade his pursuer. Abul could easily have
caught him, but it looked as if the animal wanted to play with the
cruel man, for he kept just behind him, whereas, if he had stretched
out his neck, he could have grabbed him at any time.

A crowd of Afghans and aboriginals were quickly drawn to the spot, but
they were far too excited to think of doing anything to help. The man
was doomed. The death would be a cruel one, but the man had deserved
it. Sax, however, was a clear-headed boy, and though the whole affair
was more terrifying to him than to the others, because he was not used
to camels, a plan at once suggested itself to him.

The proper entrance to the paddock was a strong iron gate. Shouting
out for Va