THE LAKE IN THE DESERT 163 



wishes and blessings, we plunged sharply into the maze 

 of dunes. The strange little scene stuck in my mind 

 because of the treachery that we knew underlay it. The ; 

 preceding evening, after they had eaten our food, one of \ 

 the Faqrun family had said to Yusuf, "Wallahi! Had I 

 we but a force equal to yours, you should not now depart," j 

 while the loyal Sheikh el Madeni had urged Mohammed j 

 to leave the oasis as soon as possible. 



The morning of our departure a spy arrived from 

 Ribiana, saying, "The Bazama family have just returned 

 from Jedabia, and they tell us that strangers are coming 

 to this country. We cannot believe it is true that the 

 Sayed has given permission to any stranger to visit 

 Kufara. I have been sent to discover the truth." 'Now 

 the aged ekhwan who originally intended to accompany 

 us on our journej% Haji Fetater, had warned Abdullah 

 that the Sayed should not allow the Bazamas to go to 

 Ribiana until we had returned in safety. Amidst all the 

 complications of our departure the warning had been 

 ignored, yet when the spy's words were repeated to us we 

 felt at last we understood the situation. Ever since we 

 had left Jedabia there had been a strange undercurrent 

 that we could not understand. We met with much hos- 

 pitality and friendliness, yet always an odd distrust 

 dogged our footsteps, while queer, impossible rumours 

 spread before us. There was the robber band that laid in 

 wait for us near Bir Rassam. There was the change of 

 front at Aujela. Even in Jalo there was a faint uneasy 

 shadow, which Hameida Bey Zeitun explained by saying 

 that some of the sheikhs were old-fashioned and ignorant. 

 Then came the actual enmity of Buseima, with all the 

 rumours and warnings that terrified our retinue and were 

 disregarded by us. The culminating point was the arrival 

 of the spy, whose tale gave us every reason to suppose 

 that we should be attacked on the way to Kufara, for he 



