long line,
their champing jaws moving rhythmically from side to side, and their
gracefully poised heads turning to right and left in a mincing,
self-conscious fashion. Most of them were beautiful creatures, true
Arabian trotters, with the slim limbs and finely turned necks which mark
the breed; but amongst them were a few of the slower, heavier beasts,
with un-groomed skins, disfigured by the black scars of old firings.
These were loaded with the doora and the water-skins of the raiders, but
a few minutes sufficed to redistribute their loads and to make place for
the prisoners. None of these had been bound with the exception of Mr.
Stuart,--for the Arabs, understanding that he was a clergyman, and
accustomed to associate religion with violence, had looked upon his
fierce outburst as quite natural, and regarded him now as the most
dangerous and enterprising of their captives. His hands were therefore
tied together with a plaited camel-halter, but the others, including the
dragoman and the two wounded blacks, were allowed to mount without any
precaution against their escape, save that which was afforded by the
slowness of their beasts. Then, with a shouting of men and a roaring
of camels, the creatures were jolted on to their legs, and the long,
straggling procession set off with its back to the homely river, and its
face to the shimmering, violet haze, which hung round the huge sweep of
beautiful, terrible desert, striped tiger-fashion with black rock and
with golden sand.

None of the white prisoners with the exception of Colonel Cochrane had
ever been upon a camel before. It seemed an alarming distance to the
ground when they looked down, and the curious swaying motion, with
the insecurity of the saddle, made them sick and frightened. But their
bodily discomfort was forgotten in the turmoil of bitter thoughts
within. What a chasm gaped between their old life and their new! And yet
how short was the time and space which divided them! Less than an hour
ago they had stood upon the summit of that rock and had laughed and
chattered, or grumbled at the heat and flies, becoming peevish at small
discomforts. Headingly had been hypercritical over the tints of Nature.
They could not forget his own tint as he lay with his cheek upon the
black stone. Sadie had chattered about tailor-made dresses and Parisian
chiffons. Now she was clinging, half-crazy, to the pommel of a wooden
saddle, with suicide rising as a red star of hope in h