them serious injury. As it was, none of them had received
any hurt, beyond the fright which the strange intruder had occasioned
them.

The singular incident was yet only half explained. They saw it was a
camel that had disturbed their slumbers; that the animal had been on its
way up the ravine, perhaps seeking shelter from the sandstorm, but what
had caused it to return so suddenly back down the slope? Above all, why
had it made the downward journey in such a singular manner? Obscure as
had been their view of it, they could see that it did not go on
all-fours, but apparently tumbling and struggling, its long limbs
kicking about in the air as if it was performing the descent by a series
of somersaults.

All this had been mysterious enough; but it was soon explained to the
satisfaction of the four castaways; who, as soon as they saw the camel
by the bottom of the gorge, had rushed down and surrounded it.

The animal was in a recumbent position, not as if it had been lain down
to rest, but in a constrained attitude, with its long neck drawn in
towards its fore-legs, and its head lying low and half buried in the
sand.

As it was motionless when they first perceived it, they fancied it was
dead; that something had wounded it above. This would have explained
the fantastic fashion in which it had returned down the slope, as the
somersaults observed might have been only a series of death struggles.

On getting around it, however, they perceived that it was not only still
alive, but in perfect health; and its late mysterious movements were
accounted for at a single glance. A strong hair halter, firmly noosed
around its head, had got caught in the bifurcation of one of its
fore-hoofs, where a knot upon the rope had hindered it from slipping
through the deep split. This had first caused it to trip up, and tumble
head over heels, inaugurating that series of struggles, which had ended
in transporting it back to the bottom of the ravine, where it now lay
with the trailing end of the long halter knotted inextricably around its
legs.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

A LIQUID BREAKFAST.

Melancholy as was the situation of the self-caught camel, it was a
joyful sight to those who beheld it. Hungry as they were, its flesh
would provide them with food; and thirsting as they were, they knew that
inside its stomach would be found a supply of water.

Such were their first thoughts as they came around it.

They soon perceived, how