the sky looking just as it does off the Isle o'
Wight when you're out o' sight o' land; and only when we saw the
mountains with a morsel of snow on their tops did the land look
different to at home. I suppose it will be a bit strange in Egypt,
though, sir, won't it?"

"Oh, yes. Wait a few hours longer," said Frank, "and then you'll see."

Sam came to him the next night when they were settled in the European
hotel, where the professor was welcomed as an old friend.

"I've put out all you'll want, sir," said the man. "Is there anything
else I can do?"

"No, Sam; I'm just going to bed so as to have a good night's rest ready
for work to-morrow. Well, does this seem foreign?"

"Foreign, sir? Hullo! there's another of 'em."--_Slap_.--"Missed him
again! Have they been at you yet, sir?"

"What, the mosquitoes? Yes. I just brushed one off."

"They seem to fancy me, sir. I expected they'd be great big things, but
they're only just like our gnats at home."

"Indeed! What about their bite!"

"Oh, yes, they bite sharper, sir. I expect it's because they're so
precious hungry, sir. But foreign? Oh, _yes_, this'll do, sir. It's
wonderful, what with the camels and the donkeys. My word! they are fine
'uns. I saw one go along cantering like a horse. Yes, sir, this'll do.
But I suppose we're not going to stay here long?"

"Only till the professor can make his preparations for the start, and
then we're off right away into the desert."

"Right, sir; on donkeys?"

"On camels, Sam."

"H'm! Seems rather high up in the air, sir. Good way to fall on to a
hard road."

"Road--hard road, Sam?" said Frank laughing. "If you fall it will be on
to soft sand. There are no roads in the desert."

"No roads, sir? You mean no well-made roads."

"I mean no roads at all; not even a track, for the drifting sand soon
hides the last foot-prints."

Sam stared.

"Why, how do you find your way, sir?" said Sam, staring blankly.

"Either by the compass, as one would at sea, or by trusting to the
Arabs, who know the landmarks."

"And sometimes by the camels' bones," said the professor, who had
entered the room unheard. "Plenty of them die along the caravan tracks.
But I daresay we shall find our way, for there is the big river which
marks our course pretty well, if we were at fault."

"Thankye, sir; you'd be sure to know," said Sam hurriedly. "I was only
asking Mr Frank like so as to pick up a little about the place."