d charge of the two heavily-laden
pack-horses, for, in addition to the personal luggage and provisions of
the travellers, with their spare ammunition, it was absolutely necessary
to take a supply of barley sufficient to give the horses a good feed, or
two, in case of being stranded in any spot where grain was scarce.

The heat was very great as they rode on over the plain, and Mr Burne's
pocket-handkerchief was always busy either to help him sound an alarm,
to wipe the perspiration from his brow, or to whisk away the flies from
himself and horse.

"It's enough to make a man wish he had a bushy tail," he said, after an
exasperated dash at a little cloud of insects. "Peugh! what a number of
nuisances there are in the land!"

But in a short time, enjoying the beautiful prospects spread around,
they rode into a wooded valley, where the trees hung low, and, as they
passed under the branches, the trouble from the virulent and hungry
flies grew less.

The ascent was gradual, and after a few miles the woodland part ceased,
and they found themselves upon a plain once more, but from the state of
the atmosphere it was evidently far more elevated than that where the
town lay. Here for miles and miles they rode through clover and wild
flowers that lay as thick as the buttercups in an English meadow. But
in addition to patches of golden hue there were tracts of mauve and
scarlet and crimson and blue, till the eyes seemed to ache with the
profusion of colour.

So far the ride had been most unadventurous. Not a house had been seen
after they had quitted the outskirts of the town, nothing but waste
land, if that could be called waste where the richest of grasses and
clovers with endless wild flowers abounded.

At mid-day a halt was made beneath a tremendous walnut-tree growing near
a spring which trickled from the side of a hill; and now the horses were
allowed to graze in the abundant clover, while the little party made
their meal and rested till the heat of the day was past.

Here Yussuf pointed out their resting-place for the night--a spot that
lay amid the mountains on their right, apparently not far off; but the
Muslim explained that it would be a long journey, and that they must not
expect to reach it before dark.

After a couple of hours the horses were loaded again, and sent on first
with their driver, while the travellers followed more leisurely along
the faint track for it could hardly be called a road. The secon