I was riding at this time
some few hundred yards ahead of all my party except the Nazarene
(who by a wise instinct kept closer to me than to Dthemetri), and I
instantly went forward in the direction of the sound, for I fancied
that where there were donkeys, there too most surely would be men.
The ground on all sides of me seemed thoroughly void and lifeless,
but at last I got down into a hollow, and presently a sudden turn
brought me within thirty yards of an Arab encampment. The low
black tents which I had so long lusted to see were right before me,
and they were all teeming with live Arabs--men, women, and
children.
I wished to have let my party behind know where I was, but I
recollected that they would be able to trace me by the prints of my
horse's hoofs in the sand, and having to do with Asiatics, I felt
the danger of the slightest movement which might be looked upon as
a sign of irresolution. Therefore, without looking behind me,
without looking to the right or to the left, I rode straight up
towards the foremost tent. Before this was strewed a semicircular
fence of dead boughs, through which there was an opening opposite
to the front of the tent.
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