THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS 257 



three hours behind us!" This was so definite that we 

 had to beheve it and Mohammed dotted the i's. "We 

 shall be attacked to-night. It is a habit of the Zouias. 

 They wait till a caravan is outside their country so that 

 they cannot be blamed and then they eat it up!'* 

 "It is not the Zouias!" indignantly refuted the guide. 

 "They have great respect for the Sayeds. It is the 

 Tebus. They have swift camels. They attack in the 

 mountains, where no travellers ever go and then they 

 fly south to the French country before anything is 

 discovered." 



Intense gloom descended on the little party. Sunset 

 light was fading and the one break in the purple stones 

 ahead was a patch of vivid sand dotted with five camel 

 skeletons. We had only three rifles and our revolvers! 



Discretion in this case was certainly the better part 

 of valour, so we decided on ignominious flight. We 

 left the neighbourhood of the wide pass leading to Zakar 

 and, in darkness, felt our way west, through curling 

 defiles and over steep ridges, always driving the camels 

 across the stony patches to avoid leaving footprints in 

 the sand. When Suleiman thought we had gone far 

 enough from our course to baffle any pursuers, we 

 barraked in a convenient hollow out of sight of anyone 

 who was not standing on the hills immediately surround- 

 ing us. "No fires," said Mohammed sternly. "No 

 light at all! And we "wall put the camels a little way 

 in front of us. Thej^ will move if anj^one comes." 

 *'What shall we eat?" moaned Yusuf plaintively. 

 "We must have a fire to cook," I agreed, thinking I 

 should be much braver after some hot coffee, for it 

 was very cold that night, but Mohammed was 

 adamantine. He hung his revolver round Suleiman's 

 neck, with strict injunctions to the guide to "Shoot 

 straight and may Allah direct the bullet!" Pie then 



