wading in it up to the neck before starting-to swim, as he was accustomed
to do at home, the water soon after he got waist-deep took him off his
feet, and a cry of astonishment burst from him as he found himself on
rather than in the fluid. The position was so strange and unnatural that
with a cry of alarm he scrambled over on to his feet, and made the best
of his way to shore, the Arabs indulging in shouts of laughter at his
astonishment and alarm. Cuthbert was utterly unable to account for the
strange sensations he had experienced; he perceived that the water was
horribly salt, and that which had got into his mouth almost choked him.
He was, however, unaware that saltness adds to the weight of water, and
so to the buoyancy of objects cast into it. The saltness of the fluid he
was moreover painfully conscious of by the smarting of the places on his
wrists and ankles where the cords had been bound that fastened him to the
camel. Goaded, however, by the laughter of the Arabs, he determined once
more to try the experiment of entering this strange sheet of water, which
from some unaccountable cause appeared to him to refuse to allow anybody
to sink in it. This time he swam about for some time, and felt a little
refreshed. When he returned to the shore he soon re-attired himself in
his Bedouin dress, and seated himself a little distance from his captors,
who were now engaged in discussing the materials prepared by themselves.
They made signs to Cuthbert that he might partake of their leavings, for
which he was not a little grateful, for he felt utterly exhausted and
worn out with his cruel ride and prolonged fasting.

The Arabs soon wrapped themselves in their burnouses, and feeling
confident that their captive would not attempt to escape from them, in a
place where subsistence would be impossible, paid no further attention to
him beyond motioning to him to lie down at their side.

Cuthbert, however, determined to make another effort to escape; for