. The heart of Arabia, a record of travel and exploration . ledges of rock, which they liken to a cave,brigands used to lurk, preying on the pilgrims ; now, as wesaw indeed with our own eyes, solitary travellers and evenunescorted women moved from stage to stage of the pilgrimroad without fear. We followed the Wadi to its highest point, at whichstood the guard-post of Ri al Ahmar on a knoll, roundwhose base were disposed booths for the sale of refresh-ments to passers-by. A party travelling from Mecca hadjust halted here and was remounting as we passed ; one ofthem, who was evidently a Sharif,
. The heart of Arabia, a record of travel and exploration . ledges of rock, which they liken to a cave,brigands used to lurk, preying on the pilgrims ; now, as wesaw indeed with our own eyes, solitary travellers and evenunescorted women moved from stage to stage of the pilgrimroad without fear. We followed the Wadi to its highest point, at whichstood the guard-post of Ri al Ahmar on a knoll, roundwhose base were disposed booths for the sale of refresh-ments to passers-by. A party travelling from Mecca hadjust halted here and was remounting as we passed ; one ofthem, who was evidently a Sharif, urged his camel to myside, where for the moment I rode alone, and in mild tonesenquired : Whence art thou come, O Shaikh ? I amcome from Najd, I replied equivocally, leaving him todraw his own conclusions, for in the sacred way it were farfrom wise to proclaim ones identity to the chance ques-tioner. For a while we rode together conversing : It isindeed a long way thou art come, he continued, and whatis the news from those parts ? In reply I assured him. z O THE HOLY LAND 221 that Ibn Saud was in the best of health, and that the rainshad been bounteous, and he left me, for all I know to thecontrary, unaware that he had parleyed with an infidel inthe sacred way. A broad upward-sloping glade led us to Mizal, a watch-tower in ruins perched on the summit of a low ridge ; thehills now thinned out before us to a steppe-like plain endingin a low rocky chain surmounted by the guard-tower ofRaghama. Beyond the tower out of nothing rose a narrowstrip of blue ; our eyes, long wearied by the endless desertof sand and steppe and rock, rested on the soft horizon ofthe western sea, and our hearts were glad within us as wehastened on. Among us were a few, including Badr, whohad never seen the sea before. La ilaha ilia llah, theycried out, La haula wa la quwwata ilia billah. From Raghama, where a goodly crowd was gatheredabout the coffee-booths, we looked down upon the coralpalaces of Jidda, e
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