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dogs showed what uncleanly visitors there howl the night 

 dirges of the departed Moslems. 



We soon got to the great quarries, with their huge walls of 

 rock and large blocks of stone scattered about in wild con- 

 fusion. The donkeys were now left behind, and we climbed 

 slowly halfway up the mountain-side by a narrow path among 

 the stones and cliffs, where at some places it would have been 

 awkward to have been seized with giddiness, while the 

 scrambling about the slippery yellow-grey and dark-brown 

 rocks of this true desert mountain demanded a certain display 

 of dexterity. 



In a narrow ravine enclosed by precipices, and not far 

 from the fortress-like crest of the mountain, we found an 

 Arab sitting beside a dead donkey. 



Here Baron Saurma had caused the entrance to a cave in 

 one of the cliffs to be built up with stones and loop-holed, thus 

 forming a masked mountain-battery at the very best shot- 

 range from the bait at the bottom of the ravine. 



Into this small and very uncomfortable hiding-place my 

 uncle, Saurma's clever Nubian servant Osman, my jager, and 

 I clambered on our hands and knees along a narrow ledge, 

 while the Baron and the Arabs immediately returned to the 

 quarry to see what would happen. 



The sky had unfortunately become overcast and fine rain 

 was falling a very rare occurrence in Cairo, where it is said 

 to rain only seven times a year ; so we had just pitched upon 

 one of these seven days for a kind of sport which requires a 

 perfectly clear sky. 



For a long time nothing came. The incessant practising of 

 the buglers and trumpeters resounded from the Citadel, and the 

 heavy air, in a space so confined as to impede all free move- 

 ment, made us drowsy. 



The countless fossils in the limestone were the only objects 

 which afforded any interest, until at last a pair of Eavens 



