You
have seen every camping-ground between here and Pajura. There is but
one other track, an old caravan road from the sea, which crosses our
present line a few kilometers to the south. We passed it last night in
the dark. It has only four wells. The nearest one is called the Well of
Moses, the next, the Well of the Elephant--"
"Why should you Arabs have a well of Moses?" asked Dick, smiling. "It
is not thought that Moses ever wandered in this locality, is it?"
"We respect Moses and all the prophets," said Abdur Kad'r seriously.
He smoked in silence for a minute, seemingly searching his memory for
something that had escaped it.
"Is it true," he demanded doubtingly, "that once upon a time many of
the hills gave forth fire and smoke as from a furnace?"
"Quite true. Volcanoes we call them. All these mountains are volcanic
in their origin."
"Then a moulvie whom I met once did not lie to me. He said that seven
little mounds which stand near that well had been known to vomit ashes
and flame: thus, they came to be called the Seven-branched Candlestick
of Moses.
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