position of having either to back him up in some
thundering lie, or to get out of the difficulty as best
I might.
In this case, however, he had done me a service,
for as soon as I had had time to recover from the
first shock of the staggering request which had been
made to me, it struck me that I might make use of
the thirst for knowledge of those Tawareks to obtain
before their faces those very photos which I had surreptitiously
been trying to take behind their backs.
I told them that I could not show them the
interior of the box, as that would necessitate taking
it to pieces, and, as it was a delicate machine, would
probably spoil it, but that if they would stand in
front of it they would be able to see how one part of
it worked, and I told them to look at the shutter.
Two of the Tawareks, with one of the slaves and
some of the children, immediately placed themselves
in front of the camera, all agog to see the working
of that wonderful machine.
I was not, of course, able to pose them, but as
one of them laid his hand upon the shoulder of the
child next to him to turn her round to look at the
shutter just as I made the exposure, he fell into an
attitude which did much to relieve the stiffness of
the group.
They were, perhaps naturally, not quite clear
from what they had seen as to the way the machine
worked, but as I told them that it was impossible to
explain it any further without taking the thing to
pieces, they were reluctantly compelled to be content
with what they had seen.