high, also of dry thorn bushes, very prickly and
spiteful-looking, and within this was a sort of village of huts.

There were no gardens and no roads. Just huts built of wood and
twigs and clay, and roofed with great palm-leaves, dumped down
anywhere. The doors of these houses were very low, like the
doors of dog-kennels. The ground between them was not paths or
streets, but just yellow sand trampled very hard and smooth.

In the middle of the village there was a hedge that enclosed what
seemed to be a piece of ground about as big as their own garden
in Camden Town.

No sooner were the children well within the inner thorn hedge
than dozens of men and women and children came crowding round
from behind and inside the huts.

The girl stood protectingly in front of the four children, and
said--

'They are wonder-children from beyond the desert. They bring
marvellous gifts, and I have said that it is peace between us and
them.'

She held out her arm with the Lowther Arcade bangle on it.

The children from London, where nothing now surprises anyone, had
never before seen so many people look so astonished.

They crowded round the children, touching their clothes, their