the halting-places were always chosen. It was not so easy, however, to
climb into the high wooden saddle, and Cuthbert tried several times in
vain. Then he repeated in a sharp tone the words which he had heard the
Arabs use to order their camels to kneel, striking the animal at the same
moment behind the fore-legs with a small switch. The camel immediately
obeyed the order to which he was accustomed, and knelt down, making,
however, as he did so, the angry grumble which those creatures appear to
consider it indispensable to raise when ordered to do anything.
Fortunately this noise is so frequently made, and the camels are so given
to quarrel among themselves, that although in the still air it might have
been heard by the Arabs sitting a short hundred yards away, it attracted
no notice, and Cuthbert, climbing into the seat, shook the cord that
served as a rein, and the animal, rising, set off at a smooth, steady
swing in the direction in which his head was turned--that from which they
had that day arrived.

Once fairly away from the camping-ground, Cuthbert, with blows of his
stick, increased the speed of the camel to a long shuffling trot, and the
fire in the distance soon faded out into the darkness.

Cuthbert trusted to the stars as guides. He was not unarmed, for as he
crawled away from his resting-place, he had picked up one of the Arabs'
spears and bow and arrows, and a large bag of dates from the spot where
they had been placed when their owner dismounted. He was already clad in
Eastern garb, and was so sun-burnt and tanned that he had no fear
whatever of any one at a distance detecting that he was a white man.

Steering his course by the stars, he rode all night without stopping. He
doubted not that he would have at least three hours' start, for the
Arabs were sure to have sat that time round the fires before going out to