The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-10-08

had the better of any horse. Yes. II
he had only had u real trottlng camel!
And then, like u fash. came MOrti-
| mer's words: 1T in the kind OF beast
that the dervishes ride when they
make their lightning raids"
The beasts the dervishes ride! What
had these dead dervishes ridden? In
an instant he was clambering up the
rocks. With Abbas protesting at his
heels. Had the two fugitives carried
away all the camels. or had they been
| content to save themselves? The brass
gleam from a litter of empty Reming-
ton cases caught his eye and showed
where the enemy had been crouching.
And then he could have shouted for
JOY. for there, in the hollow, some little
distance off, rose the high graceful
white neck and the elegant head Of
such camel as he had never set eyes
upon befOre-a swan-likc, beautiful
creature, as far from the rough. clumsy
baggleS as the cart-horse is from the
racer.
The beast was kneeling under the
shelter of the rocks with its waterskin
and bags of dOora slung over it's shOul-
ders. and its forelegs tethered Arab
fashion with rope round the knees.
! Anerley threw his leg over the front
pommel while Abbas slipped off the
! cord. Forward flew Anerley towards
the creatures neck, then violently
backwards. clawing madly at anything
which might save him. and then with a
jerk. which nearly snapped his lions.
he was thrown forward again. But the
camel was on his legs now. and the
young pressman was safely seated upon
one of the flyers of the desert. 1t was
as gentle as it was swift. and it stood
| oscillating its long neck and gazing
| round with its large brown eyes. whilst
| Anerley coiled his legs round the peg
and grasped the curved camei-sticlk
which Abbas had handed up to him.
| There Were two bride cords, one from
the nOstril and one from the neck. but
| he remembered that Scott had said that
it was the servants and not the house,
bell, which had to be pulled. so he kept
| his grasp upon the lower. Then he
| touched the long, vibrating neck with
his stick. and in an instant Abbas' fare
| wells seemed to come from far behind
him. and the black rocks and yellow
sand were dancing past on either side.
1t was his first experience of a trot-
ting camel, and at first the motion, al
though irregular and abrupt. was not
unpleasant. Having no stirrup or fixed
point of any kind he could not rise to 1t.
but he gripped as tightly as he could
with his knee. and he tried to sway
backwards and forwards as he had seen
the Arabs do. 1t was a large, very
concave Makloofa saddle. and he was
conscious that he was bouncing about
on it with as little power of adhesion
as billiard ball upon a tea tray. He
gyipped the two sides with his ha nds to
k;sld himself steady. The creature had
HOt into its long, swinging, Stealthy
trOt, it's sponge-lke feet making no
sound upon the hard sand. Anerley
leaned back with his two hands grip
ping hard behind him, and he whoOped
the creature on.
The sun had already sunk behind the
line of black volcanic peaks. which look
like huge slag-heads at the mouth Of a
mine. The western sky had taken that
lovely light green and pale-pink tint
which makes evening beautiful upon
the Nile. and the old brown river itself.
swirling down amongst the black
rocks. caught some simmer of the
colors above. The glare, the heat and
the piping of the insects had all ceased
together. In spite of his aching head
Anerley could have cried out for pure
physical joy as the swift creature be-
Meath him flew along with him through
that cool invigOrating air. with the
virile north wind soothing his prng-
ling face.
He had looked at his watch. and now
he made a swift calculation of times
and distances. 1t was past six when he
had left the camp. Over broken ground
it was impossible that he could hope to
do more than seven miles an hOur-lesS
on bad parts, more on the smooth. His