g straight before
him, as if, among the glowing logs, he saw the caravan of the Parisians
winding onward across the desert sands. Then he turned to me, sighed,
and said:

"You've seen mirage?"

"Yes," I answered.

"Have you noticed that in mirage the things one fancies one sees
generally appear in large numbers--buildings crowded as in towns,
trees growing together as in woods, men shoulder to shoulder in large
companies?"

My experience of mirage in the desert was so, and I acknowledged it.

"Have you ever seen in a mirage a solitary figure?" he continued.

I thought for a moment. Then I replied in the negative.

"No more have I," he said. "And I believe it's a very rare occurrence.
Now mark the mirage that showed itself to mademoiselle on the first day
of the desert journey of the Parisians. She saw it on the northern verge
of the oasis of Sidi-Okba, late in the afternoon. As they journeyed
Tahar, their dragoman--he had applied for the post, and got it by the
desire of mademoiselle, who admired his lithe bearing and gorgeous
aplomb--Tahar suddenly pulled up his mule, pointed with his brown hand
to the horizon, and said in French:

"'There is mirage! Look! There is the mirage of the great desert!'

"Our Parisians, filled with excitement, gazed above the pointed ears of
their beasts, over the shimmering waste. There, beyond the palms of the
oasis, wrapped in a mysterious haze, lay the mirage. They looked at it
in silence. Then Mademoiselle cried, in her little bird's clear voice:

"'Mirage! But surely he's real?'

"'What does mademoiselle see?' asked Tahar quickly.

"'Why, a sort of faint landscape, through which a man--an Arab, I
suppose--is riding, towards Sidi--what is it?--Sidi-Okba! He's got
something in front of him, hanging across his saddle.'

"Her relations looked at her in amazement.

"'I only see houses standing on the edge of water,' said her sister.

"'And I!' cried the husband.

"'Houses and water,' assented Tahar. 'It is always so in the mirage of
Sidi-Okba.'

"'I see no houses, no water,' cried mademoiselle, straining her eyes.
'The Arab rides fast, like the wind. He is in a hurry. One would think
he was being pursued. Why, now he's gone!'

"She turned to her companions. They saw still the fairy houses of the
mirage standing in the haze on the edge of the fairy water.

"'But,' mademoiselle said impatiently, 'there's nothing at all now--only
sand.'

"'Mademoiselle dreams,' said T