These however, did not occupy the attention of the involuntary visitor to that secluded spot; but something else that appeared in their midst—something that proclaimed the presence of human beings.
Near the centre of the little valley half a dozen dark objects stood up several feet above the level of the ground. Their size, shape, and colour proclaimed their character. They were tents, the tents of a Bedouin encampment. The old man-o’-war’s-man had never seen such before; but there was no mistaking them for anything else; even going as he was at a speed that prevented him from having a very clear view of them.
In a few seconds, however, he was near enough to distinguish something more than the tents. They stood in a sort of circle of about twenty yards in diameter, and within this could be seen the forms of men, women, and children. Around were animals of different sorts; horses, camels, sheep, goats, and dogs, grouped according to their kind, with the exception of the dogs, which appeared to be straying everywhere. This varied tableau was distinctly visible under the light of a full mellow moon.
There were voices; shouting and singing. There was music, made upon some rude instrument. The human forms, both of men and women, were in motion, circling and springing about. The sailor saw they were dancing.
He heard and saw all this in a score of seconds, as the maherry hurried him forward into their midst. The encampment was close to the bottom of the hill round which the camel had carried him. He had at length made up his mind to dismount coute qui coute; but there was no time. Before he could make a movement to fling himself from the shoulders of the animal, he saw that he was discovered. A cry coming from the tents admonished him of this fact. It was too late to attempt a retreat, and, in a state of desponding stupor, he stuck to the saddle. Not much longer. The camel, with a snorting scream, responding to the call of its fellows, rushed on into the encampment, right into the very circle of the dancers; and there, amidst the shouts of men, the screeches of women, the yelling of children, the neighing of horses, the bleating of sheep and goats, and the barking of a score or two of cur dogs, the animal stopped, with such abrupt suddenness that its rider, after performing a somersault through the air, came down on all-fours in front of its projecting snout!
In such fashion was Sailor Bill introduced to the Arab encampment.