A few minutes later, Temple alone remained conscious; but he felt too weak to move, and he sat there in his agony, watching the bright merciless stars come forth one by one, and the distant yellow ball of Earth rise steadily above the mountains, until a drowsiness overcame him, and he mercifully fell into a troubled sleep.
How long he slumbered we shall never know, but he woke trembling with cold, roused from his sleep by the chilly blast that was howling and shrieking round him. The heavens were of an inky blackness, save at irregular intervals, when the blue lightning lit up the banks of cloud for a fleeting moment. The cold wind, evidently charged with moisture, had brought new life upon its wings for Temple, and he felt refreshed. He was still too weak to move, and sat shivering in astonished silence, viewing the progress of the storm. Peal after peal of thunder shook the ground beneath him: flash after flash of lightning glanced along the lake of mercury, and illumined its smooth waveless surface like a mirror. Then a few big heavy drops of rain spattered on the rocks, one of them striking him full on his forehead. A minute or so later, preceded by a warning roar, the tempest broke in all its fury. The rain beat down on the parched ground, wetting him and his companions to the skin, collecting into pools, and flowing in tiny rills and torrents between the rocks, and forming channels across the firmer beds of sand.
The water revived Temple like doses of some magic elixir, and he crawled to the nearest pool and drank his fill of this sweet, refreshing nectar from the sky! Then amidst the tempest strife, and by the lightning's light, he dragged his cold and aching body towards his fallen comrades, his cap full of water, and beginning with Graham, who was lying face downwards, he gently parted his dry cracked lips asunder, and poured a few drops between his teeth. The effect was instantaneous, and he showed signs of returning consciousness; by bathing his forehead, he was soon able to speak.
"Thank you, Mr. Temple," he faintly murmured, "I shall be better now. Whoever expected rain in such a region! But leave me, and lend the poor Doctor some assistance. I am afraid he is in a bad way."
The rain had served Sandy, too, in a remarkable way, and we heard him groping in the darkness, and drinking from his hands, which he filled from one of the numerous pools around us. In half an hour all of us could stand except the Doctor; he was alive, but unable to move or speak. Then the storm ceased, the sky cleared, and a yellow light over the east heralded the sun. Daylight revealed the heaviness of the storm. We were surrounded by pools of sparkling rain-water, resting in the crevices of the rocks, and the mountain sides were furrowed with crystal streams, whose volume was fast becoming less as the sands absorbed them. Sandy, by Graham's direction, crawled off to search for the water-cask and the packs we had thrown away the previous evening. The cask we broke up, and with the wood we made a small fire. By careful management we contrived to heat sufficient water to make half-a-gallon of the meat essence, and a cup of this soon put new life into the Doctor. Poor Rover was almost dead, and lay helpless where he had crouched down by Sandy's side, hours before, and it took all his master's care to bring him round.
By the time we had drunk our soup the sun had risen, and his generous rays—the rays we were but so ready to curse yesterday—soon dried our dripping garments, and warmed our bodies back to more vigorous life. We also dried and oiled our firearms, and packed our knapsacks afresh. But we were all too weak and exhausted to march, and we decided to stay and rest ourselves for a few hours. We had food and water in abundance, and if we could only find some fuel we should want little more. We left the side of the lake, and took up our quarters under the lee of a huge mass of rock, and here we stayed until noon.
Although feeling weak, we were then determined to try and push on once more. Could we only get out of these desert regions, and enter a more fertile country, all might yet be well. Then we could rest to our heart's desire, and recruit our wasted strength. Feebly we started, tottering under our loads, but thankful to God that our lives had been spared once more, and that the pangs of a burning thirst were gone. Truly all things seemed working in our favour; for had the rain fallen twelve hours later, not one of us would have survived, and our bones would now be bleaching in the sun on that desert waste!
The ground became more even as we crawled along, and by creeping steadily forward we covered nearly twenty miles before sunset. Then the country began to improve, and the distant hills appeared covered with forests to the snow-line. Grasses and weeds peeped here and there among the stones, and a mile further on we saw a few stunted bushes, something like a clump of gorse, on the hillside. Eagerly, and with new-born strength, we now pushed on, striving every nerve to reach some sort of cover before darkness made us halt for the night.
We were not disappointed, and before the short twilight had faded, we found ourselves on the borders of a dense scrub, studded here and there with small trees. Here we camped close to a pool of rain-water, and made a glorious fire of dead branches, with which we cooked our evening meal. Then, stretching our weary limbs on beds of leaves, we rested for the night in comparative comfort and luxury.
We were up early. Thanks to splendid constitutions, the effects of our sufferings in the desert were passing rapidly away, although our pale and haggard faces continued to reflect our recent hardships for many days. The easiest route still led upwards, and after two hours' walking through a region rich with mineral wealth, we came to the borders of a forest on the crest of the hill, and looked down upon a wide and fruitful plain, covered with woods and fields and clusters of trees. Three miles below us was a large city—evidently a great manufacturing centre, for there were furnaces and tall chimney-shafts belching smoke and flame, and we could even hear the distant hum and roar of busy industry! The change from desert, barren wilderness, to fat and fruitful land was startlingly sudden, and for many moments we stood on the crest of the hill, looking at the scene below us in silent amazement! Whilst we were discussing the appearance of this smoke-beleaguered city, and wondering to ourselves what industries its people were engaged in, we were alarmed by cries of terror from a thicket a little way to the left, and almost directly afterwards a man rushed out towards us, pursued by a strange-looking beast, something like a wild boar, only with long-twisted horns growing from its forehead.