It was now the twelfth day's journey, but its closing did not bring
Abdel-Hassan and his servants to the long-expected spring.
From the ancient line of travel they had wandered far away,
And at evening, faint and weary, on a waste of Desert lay.
Fainting men and famished camels stretched them round the master's tent;
For the water-skins were empty, and the dates were nearly spent.
All the night, as Abdel-Hassan on the Desert lay apart,
Nothing broke the lifeless silence but the throbbing of his heart;
All the night he heard it beating, while his sleepless, anxious eyes
Watched the shining constellations wheeling onward through the skies.
When the glowing orbs, receding, paled before the coming day,
Abdel-Hassan called his servants and devoutly knelt to pray.
Then his words were few and solemn to the leader of his train:--
"Thirty men and eighty camels, Haroun, in thy care remain.
"Keep the beasts and guard the treasure till the needed aid I bring.
God is great! His name is mighty!--I, alone, will seek the spring."
Mounted on his strongest camel, Abdel-Hassan rode away,
While his faithful followers watched him passing, in the blaze of day,
Like a speck upon the Desert, like a moving human hand,
Where the fiery skies were sweeping down to meet the burning sand.
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