hen observed that the man was not alone,
but that from all the sandhills a line of turbaned heads was gazing down
upon us. The chief of the escort came running to me, and informed me
of the cause of their terror, which was that they recognized, by some
peculiarity of their headgear, that these men belonged to the tribe of
the Dilwas, the most ferocious and unscrupulous of the Bedouin, who had
evidently laid an ambuscade for us at this point with the intention of
seizing our caravan. When I thought of all my efforts in Abyssinia, of
the length of my journey and of the dangers and fatigues which I had
endured, I could not bear to think of this total disaster coming upon me
at the last instant and robbing me not only of my profits, but also of
my original outlay. It was evident, however, that the robbers were too
numerous for us to attempt to defend ourselves, and that we should be
very fortunate if we escaped with our lives. Sitting upon a packet,
therefore, I commended my soul to our blessed Saint Helena, while I
watched with despairing eyes the stealthy and menacing approach of the
Arab robbers.

"It may have been our own good fortune, or it may have been the handsome
offering of beeswax candles--four to the pound--which I had mentally
vowed to the blessed Helena, but at that instant I heard a great outcry
of joy from among my own followers. Standing up on the packet that I
might have a better view, I was overjoyed to see a long caravan--five
hundred camels at least-with a numerous armed guard coming along the
route from Macoraba. It is, I need not tell you, the custom of all
caravans to combine their forces against the robbers of the desert, and
with the aid of these newcomers we had become the stronger party. The
marauders recognized it at once, for they vanished as if their native
sands had swallowed them. Running up to the summit of a sandhill, I was
just able to catch a glimpse of a dust-cloud whirling away across the
yellow plain, with the long necks of their camels, the flutter of their
loose garments, and the gleam of their spears breaking out from the
heart of it. So vanished the marauders.

"Presently I found, however, that I had only exchanged one danger for
another. At first I had hoped that this new caravan might belong to some
Roman citizen, or at least to some Syrian Christian, but I found that
it was entirely Arab. The trading Arabs who are settled in the numerous
towns of Arabia are, of course, very mu