down upon the soft sand without much
danger of being injured. This for an instant he had thought of doing;
but knowing that while "unhorsing" himself the camel might escape, he
had voluntarily remained on its back, in the hope of being able to pull
the animal up.

On becoming persuaded that this would be impossible, and that the
maherry had actually made off with him, it was too late to dismount
without danger. The camel was now shambling along so swiftly that he
could not slip down without submitting himself to a fall. It would be
no longer a tumble upon soft sand, for the runaway had suddenly swerved
into a deep gorge, the bottom of which was thickly strewed with boulders
of rock, and through these the maherry was making way with the speed of
a fast-trotting horse.

Had its rider attempted to abandon his high perch upon the hump, his
chances would have been good for getting dashed against one of the big
boulders, or trodden under the huge hoofs of the maherry itself.

Fully alive to this danger, Old Bill no more thought of throwing himself
to the ground; but on the contrary, held on to the lump with all the
tenacity that lay in his well tarred digits.

He had continued to shout for some time after parting with his
companions; but as this availed nothing, he at length desisted, and was
now riding the rest of his race in silence.

When was it to terminate? Whither was the camel conducting him? These
were the questions that now came before his mind.

He thought of an answer, and it filled him with apprehension. The
animal was evidently in eager haste. It was snuffing the wind in its
progress forward; something ahead seemed to be attracting it. What
could this something be but its home, the tent from which it had
strayed, the dwelling of its owner? And who could that owner be but one
of those cruel denizens of the desert they had been taking such pains to
avoid?

The sailor was allowed but little time for conjectures; for almost on
the instant of his shaping this, the very first one, the maherry shot
suddenly round a hill, bringing him in full view of a spectacle that
realised it.

A small valley, or stretch of level ground enclosed by surrounding
ridges, lay before him; its grey sandy surface interspersed by a few
patches of darker colour, which the moon, shining brightly from a blue
sky, disclosed to be tufts of tussock-grass and mimosa bushes.

These however, did not occupy the attention of the inv