A silence followed this halt, apparently proceeding from astonishment. It was general, it might be said universal, for even the animals appeared to partake of it. At all events, some seconds transpired, during which the only sound heard was the sighing of the sea, and the only motion to be observed was the sinking and swelling of the waves. The Saaran rovers on foot, as well as those that were mounted, their horses, dogs, and camels, as they stood upon that smooth plain, seemed to have been suddenly transformed into stone, and set like so many sphinxes in the sand. In truth it was surprise that had so transfixed them, the men, at least; and their well-trained animals were only acting in obedience to a habit taught them by their masters, who, in pursuit of their predatory life, can cause these creatures to be both silent and still, whenever the occasion requires it. For their surprise, which this exhibition of it proved to be extreme, the sons of the desert had sufficient reason. They had seen three midshipmen on the crest of the sand-ridge; had even noted the peculiar garb that bedecked their bodies, all this beyond doubt. Notwithstanding the haste with which they had entered on the pursuit, they had not continued it either in a reckless or improvident manner. Skilled in the ways of the wilderness, cautious as cats, they had continued the chase; those in the lead from time to time assuring themselves that the game was still before them. This they had done by glancing occasionally to the ground, where shoe tracks in the soft sand, three sets of them, leading to and fro, were sufficient evidence that the three mids must have gone back to the embouchure of the ravine; and thither emerged upon the open sea-beach. Where were they now? Looking up the smooth strand, as far as the eye could reach, and down it to a like distance, there was no place where a crab could have screened itself; and these Saaran wreckers, well acquainted with the coast, knew that in neither direction was there any other ravine or gully into which the fugitives could have retreated. No wonder then that the pursuers wondered, even to speechlessness. Their silence was of short duration, though it was succeeded only by cries expressing their great surprise, among which might have been distinguished their usual invocations to Allah and the Prophet. It was evident that a superstitious feeling had arisen in their minds, not without its usual accompaniment of fear; and although they no longer kept their places, the movement now observable among them was that they gathered closer together, and appeared to enter upon a grave consultation. This was terminated by some of them once more proceeding to the embouchure of the ravine, and betaking themselves to a fresh scrutiny of the tracks made by the shoes of the midshipmen; while the rest sate silently upon their horses and maherries, awaiting the result.