He was tall, his face full and ruddy, with laughing blue eyes, a small
black moustache, and hair that was already white.

"I have a thousand apologies to make to you, my dear fellow," he said
immediately, with a frankness that I have never seen in any other man.
"You must be furious with my importunity in upsetting your plans and
delaying your departure."

"By no means, Captain," I replied coolly.

"You really have only yourself to blame. It is on account of your
knowledge of the southern, routes, so highly esteemed at Paris, that I
wished to have you to initiate me when the Ministries of Instruction
and of Commerce, and the Geographical Society combined to charge me
with the mission which brings me here. These three honorable
institutions have in fact entrusted me with the attempt to
re-establish the ancient track of the caravans, which, from the ninth
century, trafficked between Tunis and the Soudan, by Toweur, Wargla,
Es-Souk and the bend of the Bourroum; and to study the possibility of
restoring this route to its ancient splendor. At the same time, at the
Geographic Bureau, I heard of the journey that you are undertaking.
From Wargla to Shikh-Salah our two itineraries are the same. Only I
must admit to you that it is the first voyage of this kind that I have
ever undertaken. I would not be afraid to hold forth for an hour on
Arabian literature in the amphitheatre of the School of Oriental
Languages, but I know well enough that in the desert I should have to
ask for directions whether to turn right or left. This is the only
chance which could give me such an opportunity, and at the same time
put me under obligation for this introduction to so charming a