In half an hour at the most, he thought, he would be snuggling down against his mother among the fresh grasses of the oasis twenty miles this side of Aqsu. He knew he was absolutely right and he began complimenting himself on his quick eyes and wits. Most young camels would have gone right on and never noticed what fools they were making of themselves, he thought with satisfaction.
“It just shows,” he said to himself, “that it doesn’t pay to believe everything you’re told.”
He was so pleased with himself that he began to whistle as he ran. He whistled treble and bass and, by curling his tongue up against his lower teeth, managed to do some double-stops. And now that he made out what looked exactly like branches of palm trees waving against the sky ahead, he gave a few little hops and skips of joy.
Before he had gone much farther a flock of herons came flying across the heavens towards him, and as they came near to him they circled lower, so low in fact that he could see their long legs dangling in the air behind them as they flew. The sight of such a baby camel running so fast and quite alone across the sands made them circle closer and closer above him in wonder, and at last the leader of the herons called down:--
“Where are you going so fast, four-footed child?”
The youngest camel was a bit annoyed at being called a child by birds he had never laid eyes on before, and he tossed his head rather insolently as he answered:--
“I’m going to the oasis which my mother is passing through with her caravan. If they’ve started on by the time I get there, I’ll run straight on to Aqsu.”
“You’ve lost your way, four-footed child!” the herons called down in chorus. “We’re going to the oasis for the night. Watch us and follow where we go.”
“But I can see the oasis as clear as day ahead!” the little camel cried out impatiently. “You must be blind as bats, old birds! Can’t you see the palms and the--”
“You’ve lost your way!” the leader of the herons called down to him again as she swept above him and beckoned with one wing. But the youngest camel went running on in his own direction as fast as he could go.
“They’re just as stupid as I always thought,” said the little camel to himself. “They can’t see two inches in front of their big beaks, the silly-looking creatures!”