68 THE EMPTY QUARTER

one of them with 'Ali piloting me by a devious route, but the
birds of the desert are mistrustful of human beings and I had
to be content in the end with a distant, unsuccessful shot,
after which we saw the visitors no more.

The camels remained out while the moon lasted and, when
they came in, 'Ali Jahman found the halter of his beast
missing. Quite unconcernedly he took a lantern and, follow-
ing her tracks in the darkness where she had wandered graz-
ing with more than a score of others, came back triumphantly
with his lost property. It seemed simple enough, but behind
the simplicity lay generations of experience.