PLANS FOR THE FLIGHT 33 



put layers of straw and a few tins which could be seen 

 through carefully arranged chinks. We sorted out an 

 extra week's provisions to add to those we had already 

 prepared and the rest we put into big sacks, with the 

 intention of sending these latter at midnight, when the 

 spies were sleeping peacefully, to some place where they 

 could be stored until the dilatory camels arrived and the 

 caravan started. They would then be packed unosten- 

 tatiously with all the rest of the loads and when we 

 joined the caravan a few days' journey on the way to 

 Aujela we should recover our most necessary provisions. 

 We ourselves, with the tent, two rolls of bedding, a 

 fortnight's provisions and two suit-cases chiefly contain- 

 ing films, medicine, apparatus, candles, soap, etc., would 

 disappear the following night in Beduin clothes. 



I confess to feeling a certain pang when I realised 

 that I must leave every single European garment behind 

 except a pair of riding boots and breeches and a woollen 

 sweater. Hassanein said he thought it was carrying 

 realism too far. I understood the reason when, sternly 

 insisting that his one suit-case should hold half the 

 apparatus and only the simplest necessities of life, it 

 disgorged seven different coloured bottles of eau de 

 Cologne and a mass of heterogeneous attire more suited 

 to Bond Street than to the Sahara. I had to superintend 

 the packing lest he ignore the claims of malted milk 

 tablets, towels and woollen underclothing in favour of 

 delicately strij^ed shirts and a lavender silk dressing-gown! 

 We wondered if we should ever see again the garments 

 we left gracefull}^ decorating the walls in order to indicate 

 the imminence of our return, or whether a new fashion 

 would be set in Jedabia! 



At lunch time the tailor came to fit my strange 

 garments. It appeared that Sayed Rida wished to give 

 me no fewer than four suits, but I assured him that I 



