THE GREAT ADVENTURE T 



thought they would be useful for putting things in." 

 The words were hardly out of his mouth when one of the 

 opulent-looking cases, slipping from the Arab servant's 

 hand, burst open and deposited at my feet a large bottle 

 of "Heure bleue" bath salts, several packets of salted 

 almonds and a sticky mass of chocolates and marrons 

 glaces, together with a pair of patent leather shoes 

 and a resplendent Balliol blazer. Words failed me! 

 "Necessities!" I stuttered as I marched towards the 

 camion to see that the heaviest cases of provisions were 

 not put on top of the rather fragile fanatis intended for 

 carrying water. 



Ten minutes after leaving Benghazi the white town 

 with its slender minarets had disappeared into the sand, 

 and our camions crawled like great grey beetles over a 

 sunlit waste, w^th here and there a line of camels black 

 against the horizon. It was the season of sowing and 

 the tribes were scattered far and wide, planting the barley 

 that would suffice for their frugal life next year. Here 

 and there, as we went farther inland, a stooping figure, 

 in close-wound white jerd, pushed a plough drawTi by a 

 camel, while a friend guarded his labours, rifle slung 

 across his back. Sometimes a rare traveller on gaily 

 caparisoned mule, his coarse brown jerd flung over his 

 head and hiding the scarlet sederiya beneath, gave us 

 grave greeting, "JVIarhaba!" "Bien venu!" We spent 

 a night at Soluk, where the wells had attracted a 

 great flock of sheep, black and brown, numbering about 

 a thousand. The following day we rode the thirty kilo- 

 metres to Ghemines on wiry Arab horses with mouths 

 like iron beneath the wicked curved bits, and high- 

 pommelled saddles mounted on black sheepskins. Three 

 irregulars of the Auwaghir band accompanied us, gener- 

 ally galloping round us in circles by way of showing off 

 their horsemanship. 



