134 THE aREAT SQUAEE BY NIGHT. ch. vi. 



that what had happened did not necessarily bode ill for 

 the objects of our expedition. A fierce rivalry, as we knew, 

 already existed between El Grraoui and Ben Daoud, men 

 whose power and influence in the State were supposed to 

 be of equal weight. Whether to gratify his own feelings, 

 or because he so understood the intentions of the Sultan, 

 Ben Daoud had showed himself unfriendly, while El 

 Graoui had clearly declared himself on our side. But as 

 Ben Daoud had no authority whatever in the Atlas valleys, 

 his enmity could do us no real harm ; while El Graoui, 

 whose opposition alone was to be feared, might easily he 

 carried farther than he would have otherwise gone on our 

 behalf for the mere pleasure of thereby spiting his rival. 

 In this way our visit came to play a certain part in the 

 interior politics of Marocco, and the serio-comic develop- 

 ment of the story acquires a share of interest from the 

 light it throws on native character. 



Some time after midnight, after finishing our custom- 

 ary task in laying out our collections of the day, which 

 had been much smaller than usual, we sallied out to view 

 the surrounding scene. The moon stood high in the 

 cloudless sky, wherein there was so little vapour that the 

 stars seemed scarcely dimmed by her brilliancy. The 

 great tower, stark against the black vault, appeared gi- 

 gantic in its proportions as it looked down on the strange 

 scene below. The noises of the city— even the howling 

 of the dogs — were for the moment completely stilled; 

 our camels, horses, mules, and asses lay resting after their 

 day's work, and amongst them the sleeping figures of our 

 men, wrapped up in white haihs orjellabias, looked weird 

 and ghostly in the moonlight. The distinctness with 

 which we heard the occasional whispers of the guards 

 around our camp served only to make the deep silence of 

 the night the more impressive. 



On this night the advantages of a tent of what is 

 known as the Alpine Club pattern, where the floor is made 

 of canvas continuous with the sides, and the entrance is 



