But, oh, how they grumbled and groaned!  And how savagely their mouths opened at the least provocation!  But their poor mouths and tongues were dry and cracked with the heat, and they extended and retracted their flexible lips in the vain effort to get a little moisture.

But the journey was over at last.  Arrived at their destination, the camels sank wearily down, and once relieved of their burdens lay at full length, while the Arabs were bringing them food and drink.

Cara looked round in surprise; there were strange men and women about, and strange animals that he had not seen before.  There was a great deal of noise, too, which he did not approve of, and he, himself, appeared to attract a good deal of attention.  He was made to turn round and show himself so many times that at last he lost his temper completely, and snapped and snarled in the most savage manner.  But finally a rope was thrown over his head, and he was led away, much against his will, by a strange man.  Cara would not have gone at all, only that the cord around his neck hurt so much when the man pulled it, that he found that it was much better to follow him.

From that day Cara never saw his mother again.  But as he had plenty of food in the shape of green vegetables and roots, and had a nice, comfortable place in which to lie down, Cara—­I grieve to say—­soon forgot all about his mother, and made himself perfectly at home in his new surroundings.  He was quite happy—­although he never forgot to grumble—­as there were many young camels with him, and fine times they had together.  But he often thought of Camer and her nice little ways.

So things went on until Cara was four years old, and then his troubles began, for he was no longer to be an idle animal, spending all his time in gamboling about, but was taught to wear first, a halter, then a bridle, and finally a thing was put on his back, which nearly frightened him to death.  Not that it was so very heavy, but because he had never had anything on his back before, and he did not like the feeling of it.  He made as much trouble as he possibly could, and grumbled to his heart’s content, but it was of no use.  The horrible thing turned out to be a saddle, which was strapped on in spite of kicks and groans and snappings of his strong, white teeth, and finally, finding that it was of no use, Cara gave in and carried his burden patiently, as all other camels do.

But all this training took some time, and it was not for another year or two that Cara was really of much use.  But he was a particularly strong, well-grown young animal, and, in spite of his grumbling, was a valuable animal.

He reached his full growth when he was sixteen years old, and was then a fine specimen of an Arabian camel.  He had good, broad feet, with well-developed cushions; sinewy limbs; a strong body, and a very fine hump, of which he was extremely proud.