130 THE SECRET OF SAHARA: KUFARA 



f nearly cost him his life. He laboured unceasingly to 

 make everyone else comfortable, and the only time I 

 ever saw him lose his calm, aloof patience was when his 

 follower, Omar, had been slighted by the soldiers. As 

 for the "blacks," they were a mixture of children and 

 animal. When they suffered, they were sulky. When 

 praised, they were immensely pleased. Their ideas 

 germinated simply and slowly and were impossible to 

 dispute. They were alternately brave and cowardly, but 

 had no endurance until faced with hopeless danger, on 

 which occasion thej^ showed a rather splendid and wholly 

 unexpected patience and fidelity. 



We nicknamed the opposing camps "the black 

 bears" and the "shepherd kings" after their first bad 

 dispute, which took place on the second day. Little 

 Abdul Rahim simply had not the physique to walk thirty 

 or thii-ty-eight miles a day, so we were not surprised when 

 he silently climbed on to a camel, but when the fat 

 IMoraja and various others followed his example I made 

 violent protest. Unfortunately, Yusuf joined in, calHng 

 the soldiers "Slaves!" This fired the fuse, and for a 

 few minutes a fight seemed imminent. The corporal 

 seized his rifle and Mohammed pulled out his big wooden 

 pistol. By this time, however, I was an adept at pouring 

 oil on troubled waters and after plentifully applying 

 praise to both parties, the atmosphere became calmer. 

 Thereafter, however, there was open hostility between 

 the two camps. 



We camped at 7 near a group of camel skeletons, 

 the bones of which our own camels reflectively sucked. 

 It was the only moment in the day that Zeinab and 

 Hauwa were in evidence, for they cooked the Arabs' 

 evening meal over a few twigs of wood brought from the 

 neighbourhood of Buttafal. All through the long march 

 two little shrouded figures, wliolly enveloped in coarse, 



