282 THE SECRET OF SAHARA: KUFARA 



we were on the right track; inside the ribs were some 

 large slabs of dried dung. Mohammed pulled this out 

 triumphantly. "A fire! A fire! Hamdulillah!" And 

 therefore everyone was cheerful till Amar brought the 

 news that Yusuf was ill. We had seen the plump one 

 lie down some way in the rear, but thought he was only 

 resting for half an hour, a thing we all did in turns, only 

 the difference between the nature of East and West 

 showed at these moments, for whereas the Beduins slept 

 peacefully in the rear and then ran after the camels, I 

 used to toil on ahead and lay myself across the path of 

 the caravan, so that I must wake at its approach. It 

 appeared that Yusuf had fallen down and then lost con- 

 sciousness for about an hour; it was very lucky that he 

 managed to catch up the caravan at all. We mounted him 

 on the Tebu camel, which was the strongest of the caravan 

 but was already showing signs of thirst, and toiled on. 



It was much harder walking in the dunes, for the sand 

 was soft and deep in patches, but the great curly ridges, 

 golden as Irish butter, which Yusuf always looked at 

 affectionately, because they reminded him of his beloved 

 "asida," were friendly spirits after the dreary disk of the 

 preceding four days. It was always a thrilHng moment 

 when one mounted a high gherd, for there was the possi- 

 bility of a view. Logically one could expect to see only 

 waving yellow crests, a sunlit expanse of sand valley and 

 mountain in every direction, but the impossible might 

 always happen. One might espy a caravan or an oasis — 

 or at least some hattab! 



For this reason we always hastened ahead up the big 

 rises to look down on wind-tossed ranges, and towards 

 the evening we were rewarded for our energj^ by the 

 appearance of little black specks in one of the hollows. 

 *'Hattab," said Suleiman laconically and Yusuf re- 

 covered at the word — or perhaps it was the quinine which 



