64 THE DESERT. 



of him. He turned slowly in the saddle and then 

 pointed towards the horizon in front of him. I stared 

 hard, but saw nothing but stones and sand and faded 

 vegetation, and in the distance a small column of dust 

 — a sand-devil, I thought ; they were common enough. 

 " I see nothing," I said, as I pulled out my field-glasses 

 and swept the horizon. Wait a moment though. 

 Yes, through the field-glasses the little cloud of dust did 

 look different from the usual sand-devil, which whirled 

 giddily round like some demented sprite and then 

 vanished, unstable creation born and destroyed of the 

 wind. There was something more solid about this, 

 and, moreover, the cloud which but a moment before 

 had been but the size of a man's hand was rapidly 

 assuming alarming proportions. 



Mohammed looked anxiously back. The pack-ponies 

 with the remainder of the escort were crawling leisurely 

 along some distance behind, as is the manner of pack- 

 ponies and muleteers when left to themselves. He 

 signalled to them to hurry on, and then fixed his gaze 

 in front of him once more. " We must wait here till 

 they close up," he said. Dark objects began to show 

 amid the approaching dust-cloud — numbers of them. 

 The truth dawned upon me like a flash, and the revela- 

 tion was not an altogether pleasant one. I had not the 

 slightest doubt now what it was that was coming 

 racing towards us behind that thin veil of sand, but I 

 asked all the same. "Yes," came the reply, "Arabs, 

 and all mounted." I glanced over my shoulder and 

 noticed that the rest of our party were now close upon 

 us, and then turned my eyes upon the object in front of 

 us once more. I admit that my feelings were not those 

 of absolute composure. When you see a body of forty 

 or fifty mounted men, all armed with long spears, which 

 they brandish menacingly over their heads, galloping 



