The cry went up again of the names of the
men. At last an answering shout was heard. The men they sought were
found. Forder's guide explained who he was and that he wanted to go to
Kaf. His baggage was swiftly shifted onto another camel, and in a
few minutes he had mounted, and his camel was swinging along with two
thousand others into the east.
For hour after hour the tireless camels swung on and on, tawny beasts
on a tawny desert, under a silver moon that swam in a deep indigo sky
in which a million stars sparkled. The moon slowly sank behind them;
ahead the first flush of pink lighted the sky; but still they pushed
on. At last at half-past six in the morning they stopped. Forder flung
himself on the sand wrapped in his _abba_ (his Arab cloak) and in a
few seconds was asleep. In fifteen minutes, however, they awakened
him. Already most of the camels had moved on. From dawn till noon,
from noon under the blazing sun till half-past five in the afternoon,
the camels moved on and on, "unhasting, unresting." As the camels were
kneeling to be unloaded, a shout went up. Forder looking up saw ten
robbers on horseback on a mound. Like the wind the caravan warriors
galloped after them firing rapidly, and at last captured them and
dragged them back to the camp.
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