That first day, everyone slept from , including the Englishman. The boy was assigned a place far from his friend, in a tent with five other young men of about his age. They were people of the desert, and clamored to hear his stories about the great cities. The boy told them about his life as a shepherd, and was about to tell them of his experiences at the crystal shop when the Englishman came into the tent.
"I've been looking for you all morning," he said, as he led the boy outside. "I need you to help me find out where the alchemist lives."
First, they tried to find him on their own. An alchemist would probably live in a manner that was different from that of the rest of the people at the , and it was likely that in his tent an oven was continuously burning. They searched everywhere, and found that the oasis was much larger than they could have imagined; there were hundreds of tents.
"We've wasted almost the entire day," said the Englishman, sitting down with the boy near one of the wells.
"Maybe we'd better ask someone," the boy suggested.
The Englishman didn't want to tell others about his reasons for being at the oasis, and couldn't make up his mind. But, finally, he agreed that the boy, who better Arabic than he, should do so. The boy approached a woman who had come to the well to fill a goatskin with water.
"Good afternoon, ma'am. I'm trying to find out where the alchemist lives here at the oasis."
The woman said she had never heard of such a person, and hurried away. But before she fled, she advised the boy that he had better not try to with women who were dressed in black, because they were married women. He should respect tradition.
The ............