If so, the tunnels were under the desert, and maybe the open cuttings were through oases.
How long had they been on the river?
They had no means of keeping record of the time, but their food was nearly gone.
Had he slept?
He could not recall whether he had done so, and yet nature could not have endured the strain so long without sleep.
These thoughts saved him from the delirium which afflicted his friend.
He felt easier and more contented.
A strange drowsiness came over him, and he settled himself as comfortably as he could in the bottom of the boat and fell asleep.
On the banks of a tributary of the Nile a tribe—darker in color than the Egyptians and yet less black than the Africans of the Soudan or Congo State—dwelt in comparative peace.