Once more his thoughts went to his beloved. “Poor Sana,” he murmured, “I miss you so. Just when my hopes were highest, just when the future looked its rosiest, you had to be taken away from me. Two days of happiness and then all is misery. Like a vision you came and went.”
His head bowed, he rode on in silence. Sana had been very dear to him and the hurt was great.
Suddenly, shots ringing clear in the desert air, roused him from his dreams. From behind a large sand hill rode a band of Arabs, shaking their rifles and crying loudly.
The caravan halted, and the travelers made haste to return the fire of the bandits. Unslinging his automatic Carl accounted for two of the attackers, while some of the others fell before the rifles of the guides and the army officers.
It was all over in a few minutes. The bandits, outnumbered two to one, rode off leaving half their number behind, dead or badly wounded.
Fortunately the caravan suffered little. One of the camels had been killed, while one of the travelers, an elderly Englishman, suffered a slight wound in the arm. This was immediately treated by one of the guides, and after the excitement had died down, the caravan again set out across the desert.
CHAPTER X
THE LOVER’S DREAM
DAY after day the caravan moved slowly on, under the blazing sun of the desert.
One day was much like the other, just sand and sun, sun and sand. Days of intense heat, nights of extreme cold!
It was getting too monotonous for Carl. Inaction of body allowed too great a freedom of mind. His days and nights were filled with thoughts of Sana, thoughts that became maddening as he realized the futility of life. Thoughts which made him more and more morose as the days went by.