‘Yes,’ replied her mother, ‘seven of them. But they went away the day you were born, and I have never heard of them since.’
Then the girl said, ‘I will go and look for them till I find them.’
‘My dear child,’ answered her mother, ‘it is fifteen years since they left, and no man has seen them. How will you know which way to go?’
‘Oh, I will follow them, north and south, east and west, and though I may travel far, yet some day I will find them.’
Then her mother said no more, but gave her a camel and some food, and a negro and his wife to take care of her, and she fastened a cowrie shell round the camel’s neck for a charm, and bade her daughter go in peace.
During the first day the party journeyed on without any adventures, but the second morning the negro said to the girl, ‘Get down, and let the negress ride instead of you.’
‘Mother,’ cried Udea.
‘What is it?’ asked her mother.
‘Barka wants me to dismount from my camel.’
‘Leave her alone, Barka,’ commanded the mother, and Barka did not dare to persist.