A few moments more, and, at a sign from the Bedouin, the whole troop came to a dead stop. With one bound he sprang off his horse, stooped down, and, by the faint light of dawn, examined the ground about where he stood with great care. After a short scrutiny he stood up, and, turning to Ali, who was nearest to him, said— "Look here." And he showed him in the sand the footprints of five camels and a horse. M. Périères and M. Delange hurried to the spot, and in their delight expressed themselves in the warmest manner towards the Bedouin. "And what are we to do now?" they asked. "That is your affair," replied Abou-Zamil. "I have fulfilled my engagement, and, thanks to me, you have overtaken the persons whom you have been pursuing." "They are, then, near here?" asked the interpreters. "They are over there," replied the Bedouin, pointing to the spot, "and as soon as the sun appears you will see their encampment." "Consequently," said M. Delange, gleefully, "we are on the point of regaining our friend." "I know nothing about that," was the Arab's reply. "Did you not show us the hoof-prints of his horse in the sand? At all events he must have come thus far." "A loose horse in the desert," answered Abou-Zamil, gravely, "leaves the same traces as one with a rider on his back." The joy which the two young men had at first experienced received a sudden check. Their brows were knit, and their eyes, following the direction pointed out by the guide, anxiously endeavoured to fathom the secrets of the Arab camp. CHAPTER XXVI. The first rays of the sun, as Abou had said, unfolded to view, at a distance of about fifteen hundred yards, the Bedouin encampment. It consisted of some thirty tents, pitched in a semi-circle in front of the spur of the mountain range of El-Hejaz. A small clump of palms, whose tops were just gilded by the beams of the rising sun, could be discerned on the right in the midst of a tolerably fresh patch of verdure, where strayed at liberty a score of horses and camels. Complete quiet appeared to reign throughout the encampment, which had not yet awoke to life and movement. "To horse again!" exclaimed M. Périères, who was in a state of great excitement. "In five minutes we can reach these tents, we can take their occupants by surprise, and if our friends are there we will rescue them." "Such an unexpected inroad as that," observed the interpreter Omar, "would be looked upon as an attack. The Bedouins would defend themselves, and a conflict, which we must endeavour to avoid, would inevitably result. Would it not be wiser to take an hour's rest? Both we and our horses need it sorely."