AN EXCITING MOMENT. 65 



furiously towards you, and are unaware of their exact 

 intentions, you have some excuse for perturbation ; and 

 that is what I saw now. Yet admiration struggled for 

 a little foothold too, for it was a grand sight. The 

 swarthy Arabs galloping recklessly over the desert 

 plain, their long white robes streaming in the wind, and 

 their whirling lances flashing in the sun, made a picture 

 such as one does not often see. They were so eminently 

 fitted to their surroundings — wild children of the desert, 

 free as the winds, born to be lords of the land. 



But there was little enough time for musing, for the 

 Arabs were now within rifle-shot, and seeing the rest of 

 our party close up they halted too, and one of them 

 rode forward in our direction a little ahead of his 

 followers. It seemed that a parley was desired, and 

 Mohammed rode slowly out to meet him, while we 

 stayed still where we were. I fingered my revolver 

 mechanically, and found myself listening for the beats 

 of the pendulum of time, so slowly did the seconds 

 pass. At last they met midway, and a period of 

 strained excitement ensued. How long they talked I 

 cannot say, probably not more than a few seconds, but 

 it seemed long enough, and when at last they parted 

 and a signal from Mohammed warned us to come on, 

 the cry of the muleteers urging their charges on once 

 more broke pleasantly across the desert air and relieved 

 the nervous strain which had hung over all. As we 

 rode slowly forward the opposing band divided to right 

 and left while we passed through between them, and 

 the last that I saw of them as they galloped away into 

 space was a wild chase, which had all the appearance of 

 a glorified pig-stick, in which one of the band selected 

 for the purpose was the pig, pursued at break -neck 

 speed by a delirious and shrieking band of his fellows 

 across the plain. 



E 



