ABSTRACT
Here I was beaten. For although what is sufficient sleep for him might be sufficient for me, I could not, on my second day in the desert, compete with him in the rest. The royal cavalcade, therefore, started ahead of our little caravan. But as by a miracle, Saiyed Hashem applying the bamboo to his zelul, and I, without a thought to what may happen, doing likewise, we caught up in an hour with it as it moved slowly among the dunes that were suffused with the roseate hues of dawn. And the Sultan's golden ighal was seen at the head of the cavalcade high above the heads of those who rode in front with him. I t was a sign, a beckoning sign. And I had the courage to ride away from my rajiq, 'bambooing' my zelul recklessly, and marvelling, as I penetrated through the ranks, at my skill, which seemed to have come to me suddenly as by inspiration. But I must not deny a share
of the credit to my <;.elul, which, being an Omaniyah, did not relax her pace till it had reached her goal and then went gliding neck to neck with that of the Sultan. 'We did not think,' he said, quite surprised, 'that you rise early.'
