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12 Item, if any of the said merchants depart this life in any citie or towne, or on the high way, his gouernours there to see their goods safely kept, and to be deliuered to any other of them that shall demand them. 13 Item, the said merchants to take such camel-men as they themselues wil, being countrey people, and that no Kissell Bash do let or hinder them.

Before we went to bed that night, Haidar Aboul, the second interpreter, came and swore on the Koran that the Relation had promised the camel-men two rupees each; still we lay down happy in the assurance that we should be at Sheher in seven days, but after a night much disturbed by guns for a wedding, the first news that greeted us was that those camel-men wished to leave us.

As camel-men they were not difficult to deal with; nor did they wrangle about their hire. Presently they turned out to be "poor devils," badly armed, and not trained to the use of matchlocks. Their want of energy in beating the bushes and providing forage for their camels, compared with that of the northerners, struck us strongly.

The Bedouin in Southern Arabia never have tents. We found that Saleh had joined the camel-men in resisting our own people, who wanted to encamp under trees. They had unloaded in the open and Saleh and Iselem had then retired into the village till the tents were pitched, so, as we were to remain in this place two days, we had them moved.

The camels, with Yasmini and her women already mounted, were kneeling in the darkness outside the house of Mukhum Dass. "Come!" called Yasmini. "Hurry!" Dick kissed his wife waved his hand to Yasmini helped Tess on to the last camel in the kneeling line and they were off, the camel-men not needing to shout to make those Bikaniri racers rise and start.

As soon as he had received the last-mentioned money, he and his companions and the Hamoumi had a great and loud quarrel. Our money, being so bulky, was in bags scattered about among all the baggage, but we always had one store-bag in my box, and my husband had some for current expenses. The camel-men thought all the money was in a certain bag that was solemnly carried into the tent every night.

My camel-men had expected to find their families at a village that we had passed about six miles from Sherrem, and they had been rejoicing in anticipation, but on arrival we found it deserted, "family out of town;" the men were quite dejected; but upon arrival at Sherrem they found all their people, who had migrated for water, as the river was dry.

I again refused the camel-men permission to proceed by the indirect route, well knowing that they would do their best to miss us. Tents were scattered about the valleys; the lads tended their goats, and we greatly admired one fellow who had fallen asleep in the hot ascending steams. Thus ended the "built well."

Almost at the same moment that Sir H. Kitchener entered the camp, a party of friendly Arabs came in with the news that they had been surprised some four miles to the eastward by a score of Dervish camel-men, and had only succeeded in escaping with the loss of two of their number.

A small flanking-party of eight or ten camel-men had worked round while the firing had been going on, and these dashed in among the flying donkey-boys, hacking and hewing with a cold-blooded, deliberate ferocity.