48 THE SECRET OF SAHARA: KUFARA 



mounting a matter of peril and difficulty. In spite of all 

 this, when my great beast rose to his stately height and 

 moved off into the night, exhilaration rushed over me. 

 I hadn't been on a camel for three months, and then on 

 the beautiful trotting "hajin" of the Sudan. This was 

 only a fine baggage "hamla," but he was in keeping 

 with the desert and the night and our wild, impossible 

 project. I was happy. Also, it was a wonderful start. 

 Sir Richard Burton wisely writes that the African 

 traveller must always be prepared for three starts — ^the 

 long one, the short one and the real one. Later we 

 realised how right he was, but for the moment, as our 

 little line of camels swayed off into the darkness beyond 

 the white morabit, we only felt that we had escaped. 



"How amazing that they can find .their way in 

 pitch darkness like this!" I exclaimed, and only when 

 Orion had appeared in four different directions did I 

 begin to wonder whether they could! We had started 

 just before three, striking a northerly course which sur- 

 prised us, as we knew that Aujela lay to the south. We 

 comforted ourselves with the idea that our guides were 

 purposely avoiding the main track, and patiently we 

 bore the icy wind and constant change of .direction. 

 When, after an hour, we turned completely round, we 

 decided it was necessary to expostulate. Yusuf, on being 

 shown a luminous compass, refused to believe that the 

 north was where the needle directed. We pointed out 

 the extraordinary movement of the stars and he remained 

 imconvinced. He looked pathetically at the heavens and 

 asked persistently for "Jedi," the star that had guided 

 him apparently in many wanderings over half Africa. 

 Unfortunately we could not find her for him, though we 

 pointed out most of the constellations from the Great 

 Bear to the Milky Way. 



We continued our aimless progress for another hour. 



I 



