242 JOURNEY FROM the annals of Border exploits. The animals had perhaps been supposed to be ours ; or it may be that the reaver was not particular as to property, and had merely contented himself with taking as much as he could carry off, without reference to the doctrine of retribution. Be this as it may, the visitation had in reality fallen upon the head of the proper person ; for had it not been for the intrigues of the Ddbbah, our obstinate friend would have been happy to sell us as many sheep as we might have required of him ; and we were all too well convinced of this circumstance to regret the loss which the old Shekh had sustained.

Our stock of provisions, both for ourselves and our horses, was by this time so much diminished, that we had (we know not whether to say luckily or unluckily) no absolute occasion for the camels which were missing ; and the remaining ones had little more to carry, in addition to their former loads, than a collection of empty baskets and boxes, which could now only serve to feed the flames or the camels themselves There was in consequence no occasion for delaying our advance, by seeking to replace the loss sustained; and we continued to move on as usual, with no other motive for discontent than the absence of old Shekh Mahommed, whom we sadly longed to plague on his indifference to the summons which had been so loudly * It must be observed, that an old wicker-basket is by no means an unsavoury dish for a hungry camel, and the animals in question had already dined off much tougher materials ; for the date-stones which we had occasionally given them, in the absence of other tenderer meat, were eaten up with a relish which left little room for doubting the speedy disappearance of hampers and baskets, whenever we might afford to serve them up as entremets.