Ramses strained his eyes in the direction of the voice, and saw a dark human figure with arms uplifted. From the head, the fingers, and even from the clothing of that figure, light bluish sparks were flashing.
"Beroes! Beroes!"
A prolonged roar of thunder was heard nearer; lightning gleamed amid clouds of sand, and filled the desert with lurid flashes.
A fresh peal of thunder, and again lightning.
The prince felt that the violence of the tempest was decreasing, and the heat also. The sand which had been whirled through the air began to fall to the earth now, the sky became ashen gray, next ruddy, next milk-colored. At last all was silent, and after a while thunder was heard again, and a cool breeze from the north appeared.
The Asiatics and Libyans, tormented by heat, regained consciousness.
"Warriors of the pharaoh," said the old Libyan on a sudden, "do ye hear that noise in the desert?"
"Will there be another tempest?"
"No; that is rain."
In fact some cold drops fell from the sky, then more of them, till at last there was a downpour accompanied by thunder.