258 ACROSS THE DESERT 



animals which had not been very well in the 

 doctor's team for a little undersized white mule. 

 None of the other animals took to it, and the poor 

 little brute had a very bad time. When they 

 were being fed there would come a stamp and a 

 jingling of bells from the manger, and poor little 

 Ishmael would come shooting out into the open 

 yard, a pathetic picture of animal misery. There 

 it would stand in an attitude of utter dejection 

 until the old carter came up with some food, when 

 it would run back to him pleading to be fed. We 

 never thought it had any spirit at all. However, 

 having been turned out by its companions at the inn 

 I have -mentioned, it strayed round the yard till a 

 warning growl from the white dog warned it of 

 danger. It slowly and thoughtfully turned its 

 back, the dog made a snap, but at exactly that 

 moment the little beast let drive with his heels, 

 and caught the dog fair and square on the point 

 of his nose. He was still howling when we left 

 the inn ! 



Several of our stopping places were indicated 

 by an inn alone, set down in the midst of the 

 great hungry desert. Wild sheep, we were told, 

 came down from the hills to water during the 

 summer, and the tombs were decorated with their 

 horns and those of ibex. Once by the side of 

 the road we found the skull of a young ram. 

 Nearly every day we passed long strings of the 

 great Bactrian camels, the weight carrier of the 

 desert. Fine, shaggy, supercilious-looking brutes, 

 they minced sedately on their way with a cynical 

 side-glance of absolute and complete contempt for 

 anything or everything not a camel. 



