be bodyguard, letting none approach too close on
pain of violence, saying that Ranjoor Singh needed a long deep sleep
to restore his energy. Also, I bade them keep that cart at the rear
of the column, and I myself chose the rear place of all so as to
keep control, prevent straggling, and watch against pursuit.

Pursued? Nay, sahib. Not at that time. Nevertheless, that thought of
mine, to choose the last place, was the very gift of God. We had
been traveling about three parts of an hour when I perceived a very
long way off the head of a camel caravan advancing at swift pace
toward us--or almost toward us. It seemed to me to be coming from
Angora. And it so happened that at the moment when I saw it first
the front half of our column had already dipped beyond a rise and
was descending a rather gentle slope.

I hurried the tail of the column over the rise by twisting it, as a
man twists bullocks' tails. And then I bade the whole line halt and
lie down, except those in charge of horses; them I ordered into the
shelter of some trees, and the carts I hurried behind a low ridge--all
except Ranjoor Singh's cart; that I ordered backed into a hollow
near me. So we were invisible unless the camels should approach too
close.

The Turks and Tugendheim I saw placed in the midst of all the other
unmounted men, and ordered them guarded like felons; and I bade
those in charge of mules and horses stand by, ready to muzzle their
beasts with coats or what-not, to prevent neighing and braying. Then
I returned to the top of the rise and lay down, praying to God, with
a trooper beside me who might run and try to shake Ranjoor Singh
back to life in case of direst need.

I lay and heard my heart beat like a drum against the ground,
praying one moment, and with the next breath cursing some hoof-beat
from behind me and the muffled reprimand that was certain to follow
it. The men were as afraid as I, and the thing I feared most of all
was panic. Yet what more could I do than I had done? I lay and
watched the camels, and every step that brought them nearer felt
like a link in a chain that bound us all.

One thing became perfectly evident before long. There were not more
than two hundred camels, therefore in a fight we should be able to
beat them off easily. But unless we could ambuscade them (and there
was no time to prepare that now) it would be impossible to kill or
capture them all. Some would get away and those would carry the
alarm to th