Every morning at sunrise he drove two camels, swift riding-mares of the pure Bisharin breed, from the belt of trees, watered them, and sat by the well-mouth for the space of three hours.

Then he drove them back again into the shelter of the trees, and fed them delicately with dhoura upon a cloth; and for the rest of the day he appeared no more.

For five mornings he thus came from his hiding-place and sat looking toward the sand-dunes and Berber, and no one approached him.

But on the sixth, as he was on the point of returning to his shelter, he saw the figures of a man and a donkey suddenly outlined against the sky upon a crest of the sand.

The Arab seated by the well looked first at the donkey, and, remarking its grey colour, half rose to his feet.