“Don’t try, Asher. Tell me about the gazelles.”
“How we went from oasis to oasis in quest of this man who always eluded us, meeting him at last in Béclère’s oasis. But you haven’t heard about Béclère’s, the proprietor, you might say, of one oasis; he discovered a Roman well, and added thousands of acres; but if I began to tell about Béclère’s we should be here till midnight.”
“I should like to hear about the gazelles first.”
“I never knew you cared so much for sport, Harding; I thought you would be more interested in the desert itself, and in Béclère’s. It spoils a story to cut it down to a mere sporting episode. There doesn’t seem to be anything to tell now except I tell it at length: those great birds, nearly three feet high, with long heads like javelins, and round, clear eyes, and l
