The Persian rug upon the floor was grey and old rose and faintest
yellow, and glistened like the skin of woman; of the ordinary
furnishings of an ordinary bedroom there was no sign--you would have to
go much farther afield to find the tent with all the paraphernalia of
the toilet. Just as you would have to go still farther and towards the
west, to where were pitched the stables, and the quarters of the
specially-chosen servants he took with him in his desert wanderings;
just enough--and they had their work cut out--to look after the dogs
and birds and horses. The camels, upon whom depended the supplies,
were right out of sight, and any one of the servants would have
preferred death by torture to approaching within a mile of his master's
tents until he heard his call.

In the other tent he ate his bread and dates and drank his coffee or
received the humblest of his passing brothers; those who, scorched with
heat, tortured with thirst or hunger, and blinded with flying sand, yet
would not exchange one minute of their own free desert life for an
eternity of soft couches and the most succulent effort of a _cordon
bleu_ in the cramped surroundings of a crowded city.

It was hung with orange satin; cushions of every hue were flung upon a
carpet of violent colours; the lamps of bronze with wicks floating in
crimson saucers, hanging from the crosspole, were rarely lit; the satin
curtains hid a smaller room behind filled with dates and coffee-beans,
sweetmeats, beads and other things which bring joy to the grateful
heart of the wandering Arab and his family.

The sand outside was marked and pressed, down with footprints of men
and women and little children.