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 say thou stole the camels and ran away while I visited my sick mother.’

‘Thou hast the soul of a queen,’ I told her. ‘Much do I wish that I might lead thee to happiness.’

‘Happiness,’ she responded, ‘awaits not the runaway wife who seeks it in far lands among strange people. Go thy own way and may the gods of the desert protect thee for the way is far and barren of food or water.’

I needed no further urging, but thanked her warmly and was away into the night. I knew not this strange country and had only a dim idea of the direction in which lay Babylon, but struck out bravely across the desert toward the hills. One camel I rode and the other I led. All that night I traveled and all the next day, urged on by the knowledge of the terrible fate that was meted out to slaves who stole their master’s property and tried to escape.

Late that afternoon, I reached a rough country as uninhabitable as the desert. The sharp rocks bruised the feet of my faithful camels and soon they were picking their way slowly and painfully along. I met neither man nor beast and could well understand why they shunned this inhospitable land.

It was such a journey from then on as few men live to tell. Day after day we plodded along. Food and water gave out. The heat of the sun was merciless. At the end of the ninth day, I slid from the back of my mount with the feeling that I was too weak to ever remount and I would surely die, lost in this abandoned country.

I stretched out upon the ground and slept, not waking until the first gleam of daylight.

I sat up and looked about me. There was a coolness in the morning air. My camels lay dejected not