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"Do you know," continued the Prince, "if any other of these people are to be found among the Ouadelims and Labdesseba, as it was by these tribes they were all seized?" My patron answered him very humbly. "Yes, Sir, and they may be very easily collected together, if you issue orders to that effect."
One of Sidy Mahammet's friends ran up to him, and advised him to hide himself very quickly, because the Ouadelims were arming from every quarter to carry off their seizure. "Fly with your slaves," said he, "whilst I gather together some of ours, and at break of day we will proceed on our march to regain our habitation."
Our flocks, finding no more pasturage, were upon the point of perishing, when at last, the two tribes of Labdesseba and the Ouadelims, after having consulted, each for themselves, resolved to go in search of lands occupied by more industrious inhabitants. The Ouadelims carried their ravages as far as Guadnum, about 300 leagues from the place where we had been encamped.
"In this case," said I, "our captivity would have been shorter and less rigorous; but I am afraid we may fall in with some hordes of the tribe of the Ouadelims and Labdesseba, a ferocious people, who live in a manner truly savage, who always wander through the deserts, and subsist on the milk of their camels."
One day that the fields were covered with the whole flocks of the village, one of the keepers ran up, quite out of breath, to inform us that some squadrons of the Ouadelims had appeared upon the top of the hills, with an apparent intention of carrying off the cattle. Immediately the drum beat, all ran to arms, and advanced towards the enemy.
Every tribe is divided into hordes, and every horde encamps in the districts which appear most likely to furnish pasturage for the support of their cattle, and that in such a manner, that one tribe is never wholly united. They are thus frequently intermixed with certain villages of the tribes of the Ouadelims, Labdesseba, La Loussye, Lathidium, Chelus, Tucanois, Ouadelis, &c.
The person who to-day is possessed of considerable riches in bestial, may find himself reduced to-morrow to extreme poverty, and stripped by him who, the preceding day, had no property at all. The weakest tribes, who are in consequence most exposed, are careful to live at a considerable distance, especially from the Ouadelims and Labdesseba.
My fears were too well founded. My master, after having secreted in the sand the little treasure with which I had enriched him, returned to the sea-coast, to see what further accrued to him from the pillage of the ship. During his absence, a troop of the Ouadelims came to attack our retreat. They plundered, pillaged and ransacked the whole; they seized us, some by the neck, and others by the hair.
A guide, who should go before us, was to place at little distances, small pyramids of stones, to point out to us the road which we should keep, and to prevent our falling into the midst of some hostile village, more especially of the Ouadelims. The fact was, these people are so avaricious, whether friends or enemies, there is equal cause to be suspicious of either.
"What is your name, and to what tribe do you belong? and why have you fled from the companies which are more advanced upon the sea-coast?" "My name is Sidy Mahammet del Zouze; my tribe is that of Labdesseba; and I fled from the Ouadelims, because we could not live on good terms with them. But as to you, what is your name? and are you brother to these people?"
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