It had been arranged with my Arabs that they were to bring with
them all the food which they would want for themselves during the
passage of the Desert, but as we rested at the end of the first
day's journey by the side of an Arab encampment, my camel men found
all that they required for that night in the tents of their own
brethren. On the evening of the second day, however, just before
we encamped for the night, my four Arabs came to Dthemetri, and
formally announced that they had not brought with them one atom of
food, and that they looked entirely to my supplies for their daily
bread. This was awkward intelligence. We were now just two days
deep in the Desert, and I had brought with me no more bread than
might be reasonably required for myself and my European attendants.
I believed at the moment (for it seemed likely enough) that the men
had really mistaken the terms of the arrangement, and feeling that
the bore of being put upon half-rations would be a less evil (and
even to myself a less inconvenience) than the starvation of my
Arabs, I at once told Dthemetri to assure them that my bread should
be equally shared with all. Dthemetri, however, did not approve of
this concession; he assured me quite positively that the Arabs
thoroughly understood the agreement, and that if they were now
without food they had wilfully brought themselves into this strait
for the wretched purpose of bettering their bargain by the value of
a few paras' worth of bread.
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