that stretches from the town toward the horizon, feasted my eyes upon the consoling promise embodied in a rivulet of precious water and took the final elements of the picture from the tall trees that dotted the oasis and from the multi-colored coats of the crowds of men and the flocks of sheep, the horses, the donkeys and the camels. Falcons and hawks sailed high in the air, as though they too were drinking in the picture of the sun-bathed town in the desert.
After the ceremony in the place had ended, I went to the quarters prepared for us and succeeded at last in getting rid of all the sand about me except that which continued to turn up from between my teeth. Then, after a most delightful luncheon in the house of Monsieur Marcel, we would willingly have remained inside to avoid the burning rays of the desert sun and to rest, were it not that our joint hosts. Colonel Pariel and Monsieur Marcel, had arranged quite an unusual spectacle for us—real Arab horse-races out on the desert.
Welladay! To see the sons of the golden sand at full gallop—this were a delight that would outweigh all minor physical considerations. Never mind the champagne and cognac, to say nothing of the white and red wines; never mind the hundred twenty-seven degrees of temperature—let us go to the races under the broiling sun! Fortunately Monsieur Marcel had caused two great tents to be set up for the spectators and liberal supplies of vichy and tea with mint provided for our comfort against the sizzling heat.
When the horses appeared, we found that there were some beautiful specimens among them, slender of limb,
