My prison was constructed of wood and canvas, the form of the interior being to all intents and purposes that of a bell-tent. The skin was of canvas, lined with wood clamped together with stout iron strips. There was a door to the hut, with a strong lock, in which the key was turned upon me after every visit from my guard--twice to three times daily. Directly I had fixed things up with the Bedouin I started digging my tunnel. Sometimes the sentry disturbed me during my excavations, but as I was always on the alert, his approach, followed by the click of the key in the lock, gave me sufficient warning to fling my mattress quickly over the hole, take my seat on a box, and look up calmly when he entered, thus avoiding rousing his suspicions. There was little danger to be apprehended from the outside, owing to the great height of the grass and weeds which grew all around the hut. Scraping laboriously with my precious bowl, distributing the scooped-up material carefully over the earthern floor of the hut so as not to attract attention, and on the _qui vive_ night and day, I worked at my burrow for three whole days. The tension I underwent during this period, and the constant anxiety that tortured me, are quite indescribable. I worked like a fiend; I had fully determined that I would not remain in the camp any longer even though death waited for me outside. V--"I MAKE MY ESCAPE DISGUISED AS A BEDOUIN WOMAN" My tunnel being completed, I fixed the hour of departure with my Bedouin friend, arranging for him to be waiting at a specified spot about two hundred yards away. The time appointed was in the dead of night--at 12.30 A.M., to be exact--and as the hour approached I worked myself into a feverish state of excitement. I became terribly nervous, thinking of the risk I was about to take and the journey that awaited me if I got free. I realized, almost for the first time, the manifold difficulties of my enterprise, and I told myself I was only going to my doom. Then, as the hands of my watch moved steadily onward, the reaction came, and I grew calm and confident. Courage was needed to make this dash for freedom--well, I would show courage. The moment for action came, and swiftly I removed the mattress that had hitherto concealed my secret passage, put my head through the aperture, and peeped out to survey my surroundings.