belongs to no one, unless he has power to defend it. The strangers elated with the prospect of obtaining their share of booty, hastily mounted their camels and departed for the place, where our masters assured them they would find the wreck, and the valuable property they had described to them.--They were to the very great satisfaction of our masters, soon out of sight, and left us in peaceable possession of the well. Here we had once more an opportunity to quench our thirst, but not however until the camels and their masters had drank their fill.

As the sun had now set, a dispute commenced between the Arabs whether we should pitch our tents here for the night, or proceed a few miles further. It was argued by those who were against stopping here, that the Arabs who had gone in quest of the wreck, might alter their minds and return in the course of the night and possess themselves of their prisoners. As an Arab had rather part with his life than his property, it did not require much argument to satisfy those who were at first of different opinion, that to proceed to a place of more safety, would be the wisest step. Having filled their skins with water, and permitted us to take a second draught, they quit the well near an hour after sunset, and after ascending and descending prodigious drifts of dry sand until our strength had become nearly exhausted, our masters at length found a snug retreat, surrounded on all sides by high sand