Chapter Twenty Three.
Starting on the Track.
As already said, the mirth of the three midshipmen was brought to a quick termination. It ended on the instant of Sailor Bill’s disappearance behind the spur of the sand-hills. At the same instant all three came to a stop, and stood regarding one another with looks of uneasiness and apprehension.
All agreed that the maherry had made away with the old man-o’-war’s-man. There could be no doubt about it. Bill’s shouts, as he was hurried out of their hearing, proved that he was doing his best to bring to, and that the “ship of the desert” would not yield obedience to her helm.
They wondered a little why he had not slipped off and let the animal go. They could not see why he should fear to drop down in the soft sand. He might have had a tumble, but nothing to do him any serious injury, nothing to break a bone or dislocate a joint. They supposed he had stuck to the saddle from not wishing to abandon the maherry, and in hope of soon bringing it to a halt.
This was just what he had done for the first three or four hundred yards. After that he would only have been too well satisfied to separate from the camel and let it go its way. But then he was among the rough, jaggy rocks through which the path led; and then dismounting was no longer to be thought of without also thinking of danger considering that the camel was nearly ten feet in height, and going at a pitching pace of ten miles to the hour. To have forsaken his saddle at that moment, would have been to risk the breaking of his neck.
From where they stood looking after him the mids could not make out the character of the ground. Under the light of the moon the surface seemed all of a piece—all a bed of smooth, soft sand. For this reason were they perplexed by his behaviour.
There was that in the incident to make them apprehensive. The maherry would not have gone off at such a gait without some powerful motive to impel it. Up to that moment it had shown no particular penchant for rapid travelling, but had been going under their guidance with a steady sober docility. Something must have attracted it towards the interior. What could that something be, if not the knowledge that its home or its companions were to be found in this direction?
This was the conjecture that came simultaneously into the minds of all three, as is known the correct one.