The Water Is Perfectly Bright And Clear; Its Taste
Detestable.
After finishing my attempts at swimming and diving, I
took some time in regaining the shore, and before I began to dress
I found that the sun had already evaporated the water which clung
to me, and that my skin was thickly encrusted with salts.
CHAPTER XIV - THE BLACK TENTS
My steps were reluctantly turned towards the north. I had ridden
some way, and still it seemed that all life was fenced and barred
out from the desolate ground over which I was journeying. On the
west there flowed the impassable Jordan, on the east stood an
endless range of barren mountains, and on the south lay that desert
sea that knew not the plashing of an oar; greatly therefore was I
surprised when suddenly there broke upon my ear the long,
ludicrous, persevering bray of a donkey. I was riding at this time
some few hundred yards ahead of all my party except the Nazarene
(who by a wise instinct kept closer to me than to Dthemetri), and I
instantly went forward in the direction of the sound, for I fancied
that where there were donkeys, there too most surely would be men.
The ground on all sides of me seemed thoroughly void and lifeless,
but at last I got down into a hollow, and presently a sudden turn
brought me within thirty yards of an Arab encampment. The low
black tents which I had so long lusted to see were right before me,
and they were all teeming with live Arabs - men, women, and
children.
I wished to have let my party behind know where I was, but I
recollected that they would be able to trace me by the prints of my
horse's hoofs in the sand, and having to do with Asiatics, I felt
the danger of the slightest movement which might be looked upon as
a sign of irresolution. Therefore, without looking behind me,
without looking to the right or to the left, I rode straight up
towards the foremost tent. Before this was strewed a semicircular
fence of dead boughs, through which there was an opening opposite
to the front of the tent. As I advanced, some twenty or thirty of
the most uncouth-looking fellows imaginable came forward to meet
me. In their appearance they showed nothing of the Bedouin blood;
they were of many colours, from dingy brown to jet black, and some
of these last had much of the negro look about them. They were
tall, powerful fellows, but awfully ugly. They wore nothing but
the Arab shirts, confined at the waist by leathern belts.
I advanced to the gap left in the fence, and at once alighted from
my horse. The chief greeted me after his fashion by alternately
touching first my hand and then his own forehead, as if he were
conveying the virtue of the touch like a spark of electricity.
Presently I found myself seated upon a sheepskin, which was spread
for me under the sacred shade of Arabian canvas.
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