"Any chance of falling in with a caravan?" Quest enquired.

"Not one in a hundred," the Professor replied gloomily. "If we were only
this short distance out of Port Said, and on one of the recognised trade
routes, we should probably meet half-a-dozen before mid-day. Here we are
simply in the wilds. The way we are going leads to nowhere and finishes in
an utterly uninhabitable jungle."

"Think we'd better turn round and try and bisect one of the trade routes?"
Quest suggested.

The Professor shook his head.

"We should never know when we'd struck it. There are no milestones or
telegraph wires. We shall have to put as brave a face on it as possible,
and push on."

Laura put her head out of the tent in which the two women had slept.

"Say, where's breakfast?" she exclaimed. "I can't smell the coffee."

They turned and approached her silently. The two girls, fully dressed,
came out of the tent as they approached.

"Young ladies," the Professor announced, "I regret to say that a
misfortune has befallen us, a misfortune which we shall be able, without a
doubt, to surmount, but which will mean a day of hardship and much
inconvenience."

"Where are the camels?" Lenora asked breathlessly.