4 THE EMPTY QUARTER

His son, Muhammad, succeeded him but was transferred
elsewhere—it is two years ago now—and Ibn Thunaian was
sent to Qatif in his stead. By God ! I would that I might be
transferred from here, but the service of the King is my only
desire. God is bounteous. His words struck a strange chord
of memory. Fifteen years ago in this very same parlour he
had uttered the selfsame words. I reminded him of the
coincidence. Yes, he replied, I am still here after all these
years, during which I have never left the place but for an
occasional visit to the Hasa and last year, when the King
permitted me to go to Mecca for the pilgrimage—praise be to
God. Why, all these years I have never even been to Bah-
rain. What a contrast, I thought, between his tranquil life in
the tenure of a virtual sinecure and the storm-tossed years
that had been my lot since our last meeting !

Next day I had plunged my car into a veritable crevasse of
soft sand and had to leave my luggage to be recovered later
on, while I made a rough journey over the billowing dunes of
that sand-ocean on the running-board of another car already
overloaded with the household paraphernalia, including the
wife, children and several female attendants, of the Hufuf
doctor.

That was January 5th. It was imperative to recover my
cameras and other stuff from the derelict car, but there were
no cars likely to be going in that direction. There was
nothing for it but to send my servant, an ineffective, pur-
blind youth of Riyadh called 'Abdul Latif— I had decided to
dispense with his services, which would have been UKelcKts to
me on a serious journey,—by camel to fetch the gear and
bring it direct to some suitable rendezvous in the desert.
That would be better than delaying my own start, and Sa'ud,
the eldest son of Ibn Jiluwi,;fco whom had been consigned the
task of arranging the commissariat and other practical details
of my expedition, proved more than helpful. A rendozvouB
was duly arranged and 'Abclul Latif —whom I had rather
unwisely paid all his dues—went off with a guide to fetch my
stuff to Bir al Nabit, a desert well which we should be visiting.
To anticipate the course of events, the guide kept the trynt
faithfully—and profitably for himself—with my valued