[Illustration: OLD BUILDINGS, TANGIER]




CHAPTER II

FROM TANGIER TO DJEDIDA

Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote

* * * * *

Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages.

_The Canterbury Tales._

We have rounded the north-west corner of Africa, exchanged farewell
signals with our friend on Lloyd's station,--who must now return to his
Spanish and Arabic or live a silent life,--and I have taken a last look
through field-glasses at the plateau that held our little camp. Since then
we have raced the light for a glimpse of El Araish, where the Gardens of
the Hesperides were set by people of old time. The sun was too swift in
its decline; one caught little more than an outline of the white city,
with the minarets of its mosques that seemed to pierce the sky, and flags