It was dawn on the following morning before we sighted the oasis,whither we could travel but slowly, since, owing to the lack of camels,two of us must walk. Of these two, as may be guessed, the Sergeant wasalways one and his master the other, for of all the men I ever knew Ithink that in such matters Orme is the most unselfish. Nothing wouldinduce him to mount one of the camels, even for half-an-hour, so thatwhen I walked, the brute went riderless. On the other hand, once he wason, notwithstanding the agonies he suffered from his soreness, nothingwould induce Higgs to get off.
"Here I am and here I stop," he said several times, in English, French,and sundry Oriental languages. "I've tramped it enough to last me therest of my life."
Both of us were dozing upon our saddles when suddenly I heard theSergeant calling to the camels to halt and asked what was the matter.
"Looks like Arabians, Doctor," he said, pointing to a cloud of dustadvancing toward us.
"Well, if so," I answered, "our best chance is to show no fear and goon. I don't think they will harm us."
So, having made ready such weapons as we had, we advanced, Orme and theSergeant walking between the two camels, until presently we encounteredthe other caravan, and, to our astonishment, saw none other thanShadrach riding at the head of it, mounted on my dromedary, which hisown mistress, the Lady of the Abati, had given to me. We came face toface, and halted, staring at each other.
"By the beard of Aaron! is it you, lords?" he asked. "We thought youwere dead."
"By the hair of Moses! so I gather," I answered angrily, "seeing thatyou are going off with all our belongings," and I pointed to the baggagecamels laden with goods.
Then followed explanations and voluble apologies, which Higgs for oneaccepted with a very bad grace. Indeed, as he can talk Arabic and itsdialects perfectly, he made use of that tongue to pour upon the heads ofShadrach and his companions a stream of Eastern invective that must haveastonished them, ably seconded as it was by Sergeant Quick in English.
Orme listened for some time, then said:
"That'll do, old fellow; if you go on, you will get up a row, and,Sergeant, be good enough to hold your tongue. We have met them, so thereis no harm done. Now, friend Shadrach, turn back with us to the oasis.We are going to rest there for some days."
Shadrach looked sulky, and said something about our turning and going onwith _them_, whereon I produced the ancient ring, Sheba's ring, which Ihad brought as a token from Mur. This I held before his eyes, saying:
"Disobey, and there will be an account to settle when you come into thepresence of her who sent you forth, for even if we four should die"--andI looked at him meaningly--"think not that you will be able to hide thismatter; there are too many witnesses."
Then, without more words, he saluted the sacred ring, and we all wentback to Zeu.