lled was wonderful, for at intervals of about
forty miles were post-houses and at these, whatever might be the hour
of day or night, we found fresh horses from the King's stud awaiting us.
Moreover, the postmasters knew that we were coming, which astonished
me until we discovered that they had been warned of our arrival by two
King's messengers who travelled ahead of us.

These men, it would seem, although our officers and guides professed
ignorance of the matter, must have left the King's palace at dawn on the
day of our departure, whereas we did not mount in the city till a little
after noon. Therefore they had six hours good start of us, and what is
more, travelled lighter than we did, having no sumpter beasts with them,
and no cooks or servants. Moreover, always they had the pick of the
horses and chose the three swiftest beasts, leading the third in case
one of their own should founder or meet with accident. Thus it came
about that we never caught them up although we covered quite a hundred
miles a day. Only once did I see them, far off upon the skyline of a
mountain range which we had to climb, but by the time we had reached its
crest they were gone.

At length we came to the desert without accident and crossed it, though
more slowly. But even here the King had his posts which were in charge
of Arabs who lived in tents by wells of water, or sometimes where there
was none save what was brought to them. So still we galloped on, parched
by the burning sand beneath and the burning sand above, and reached the
borders of Egypt.

Here, upon the very boundary line, the two officers halted the cavalcade
saying that their orders were to return thence and make report to the
King. There then we parted, Bes and I with the six hunters who still
chose to cling to me, going forward and the officers of the King with
the guides and servants going back. The good horses that we rode from
the last post they gave to us by the King's command, together with the
sumpter beasts, since horses broken to the saddle were hard to come
by in Egypt where they were trained to draw chariots. These we took,
sending back my thanks to the King, and started on once more, Bes
leading that beast which bore the gold and the hunters serving as a
guard.

Indeed I was glad to see the last of those Easterns although they had
brought us safely and treated us well, for all the while I was never
sure but that they had some orders to lead us into a trap, or p