“Only stiff and shaken. Ali made such a tremendous leap—I don’t know how far it was; and then he came down like an india-rubber ball, and bounded again and again till he could find good foothold, and then we slipped slowly till we could stop here, and it seemed as if we could go no farther.”
“What an escape!” muttered Mr Burne, looking up.
“Oh, it wasn’t there,” said Lawrence patting his little horse’s neck. “It must have been quite a quarter of a mile from here. But how did you come?”
Yussuf explained, and then Mr Preston looked aghast at the rock they had climbed over.
“Why, we shall have to leave the pony,” he said.
“Oh, no, effendi,” replied Yussuf; “leave him to me. He can climb like a goat.”
And so it proved, for the brave little beast, as soon as it was led to the task by the rein passed over its head, climbed after Yussuf, and in fact showed itself the better mountaineer of the two, while, after the rock was surmounted, and a descent made upon the other side, it followed its master in the arduous walk, slipping and gliding down the torrent-bed when they reached it, till at last they reached the greater stream, which to their delight had fallen to its regular summer volume, the effects of the storm having passed away, and the sandy bed being nearly bare.
Theirs proved quite an easy task now, in spite of weariness; and as evening fell, they reached Hamed, camped by the roadside, with the horses grazing on the bushes and herbage, all being ready to salute Ali Baba with a friendly neigh.
They had a long journey before them still; but there was only one thing to be done now—unpack the provisions, light a fire, make coffee, and try to restore some of their vigour exhausted by so many hours of toil.