very clearly to be seen. But we were too tired to utter a complaint. I saw
the mules brought within the zariba, helped to set up my camp bed, took
the cartridges out of my shot gun, and, telling Salam to say when supper
was ready, fell asleep at once. Eighteen busy hours had passed since the
mueddin called to "feyer" from the minaret above the Tin House, but my
long-sought rest was destined to be brief.

FOOTNOTES:

[43] Literally, "Slave of the Merciful."

[44] Priest attached to the Mosque.

[45] The Angels of Judgment.

[46] So many lepers come from the Argan Forest provinces of Haha and
Shiadma that leprosy is believed by many Moors to result from the free use
of Argan oil. There is no proper foundation for this belief.

[47] This is the most important of the five supplications. The Sura of Al
Koran called "The Night Journey" says, "To the prayer of daybreak the
Angels themselves bear witness."

"SONS OF LIONS" AND OTHER TRUE BELIEVERS

[Illustration: EVENING IN CAMP]

CHAPTER X

"SONS OF LIONS" AND OTHER TRUE BELIEVERS

FALSTAFF--"Four rogues in buckram let drive at me."

_King Henry IV._, Act II. Scene 4.

By the time Salam had roused me from a dream in which I was being torn
limb from limb in a Roman amphitheatre, whose terraced seats held
countless Moors all hugely enjoying my dismemberment, I realised that a
night in that guest-house would be impossible. The place was already
over-populated.

A brief meal was taken in the open, and we sat with our feet thrust to the
edge of the nearest charcoal fire, for the night was cold. Our animals,
tethered and watered, stood anxiously waiting for the barley the chief
muleteer had gone to buy. Supper over, I sat on a chair in the open, and
disposed myself for sleep as well as the conditions permitted. Round me,
on the bare ground, the men and the boy from the Sus lay wrapped in their
haiks--the dead could not have slept more soundly than they. The two fires
were glimmering very faintly now, M'Barak was stretching a blanket for
himself, while Salam collected the tin plates and dishes, his last task
before retiring. Somewhere in the far outer darkness I heard the wail of
a hyaena, and a light cold breeze sighed over the plain. Half asleep and
half awake I saw the village headman approaching from out the darkness; a
big bag of barley was on his shoulder, and he was followed closely by the
muleteer. They came into the little circle