"Might be I ought to have caught me one anyway, eh?"
"You'd have found it worth your while," Ali assured him.
"Well, I didn't an' I don't know as it would of been doin' me or the
camel any favor if I did. Ridin' anythin' don't set like it used to.
Come on in, Hi. I'll rouse up some rations."
Ali walked with the old man to his house and sat down on a wooden bench
while Hud Perkins busied himself preparing fish from the river and
vegetables from his garden. He queried, "If I might ask, where ye been?"