About twenty horsemen had escorted the Cafila hitherto, but were to leave them a couple of stages further, as it is only horses trained to it from colts that can live on the Desert. Others were discussing the rumours of war between the Sultan and the Chief of the Arab tribes, which had excited in them the greatest alarm.
"By the tomb of Mulai Idris," said a little rotund fat Moor from Fez, with a florid complexion and long white beard, which his fingers were continually combing; and mounted on a tall ambling mule. "By the tomb of Idris (may his sanctity be increased!) if I had heard this news before, I would have sacrificed all the gain on these camel-loads before I would have left my shop in the Kaisaria, and then, perhaps, to lose our life also, by the hands of these blood-thirsty Arabs; who knows what is written, Allaw Kereem?" and the little man's hands kept time with his increased agitation.
"In the name of the Prophet, uncle Mohammed," exclaimed a Marocco horseman, with a long gun across the pommel of his saddle, "you cry out before you are hurt. You are rich; I am a beggar; but are we not strong enough to send a whole tribe of these Arabs (the curse of Mohammed upon them!) to their fathers' graves, if they can find them in this sea, where you may lose sight of a camel for an hour, and not find him in a month?" And laughing at his own bald wit, he turned to another horseman, who, from his northern accent and striped djilabea, the hood of which was drawn over his head, seemed to be from the neighbourhood of Tetuan; he was mounted on a raw-boned horse, like those of the ostrich-hunters, and was at the time loading his gun.
"What say you, friend? You seem prepared for work, but I trust there is no cause for fear."
The other looked up sharply at the speaker from under his hood, and went on with his occupation, saying,--
"He that despises his enemy is not wise; he that reviles a people in their own country is not wise; for sands as well as walls may have ears. I cannot talk,--when time serves, I may act. Danger there is, but as for cause of fear,"--and he once more looked at his companion's face, which had waxed paler--"it does not seem required in your case."
The horseman, whose name was Mohammed, galled by the reproof, but not daring to resent it, drove his spurs into his horse, which plunged forward and brought him in contact with the mule's load, a projecting part of which caught the folds of his dress, causing a large rent, and exposing a belt he wore next his person. This did not escape the other's quick eye, though he appeared to take no notice. The moon was a few days old, but the light of a clear, starry sky was sufficient on these white plains, and they travelled on until midnight, when they arrived at some wells, and halted. These wells were of a great depth, and the water was drawn from them in small leathern buckets, and poured into a stone trough, the exhausted camels biting, kicking, and pushing, in their eagerness to reach the coveted fluid. As the camels were watered, their fore knees were tied up, to prevent them straying, and they were turned loose to graze, on what few thorny plants they could find, while the men rolled themselves in their hayks, and were soon asleep, undisturbed by the roaring of camels, the shouts of the drivers, and the confusion which lasted for hours.