One of these creatures he was ordered to mount, the bonds being loosed from his arms and feet.

An Arab driver, with lance, bows, and arrows, and other weapons, took his seat on the neck of the animal, and then with scarcely a word the caravan marched off, with noiseless step, and with their faces turned southwards.
It seemed to Cuthbert almost as a dream.

A few hours before he had been exalted with the hope of freedom; now he was being taken away to a slavery which would probably end but with his life.

Although he could not understand any of his captors, the repetition of a name led him to believe that he was being sent to Egypt as a present to some man in high authority there; and he doubted not that the Governor of Jerusalem, fearing that he might escape, and dreading the wrath of the sultan, should he do so, had determined to transfer the troublesome captive to a more secure position and to safer hands.
For three days the journey continued; they had now left the fertile lowlands of Palestine, and their faces were turned west.

They were entering upon that sandy waste which stretches between the southern corner of Palestine and the land of Egypt, a distance which can be travelled by camels in three days, but which occupied the Children of Israel forty years.
At first the watch had been very sharply kept over the captive; but now that they had entered the desert the Arabs appeared to consider that there was no chance of an attempt to escape.