Instead of following the route M’Kamba had sketched out for them, they turned to the right, determined to follow as far as possible the course of the river until the oasis was crossed, and then to trust to their luck in finding the encampment of Sherif el Habib.
CHAPTER XIX.
MOHAMMED.
The oasis was nearly crossed when they left the Gondo escorts, and the young explorers soon found themselves on the terrible African desert.
They were not pursued—at least, as far as they knew—and they were delighted at regaining their freedom.
After a day of misery on the sand, when their eyes were blistered, their nostrils swollen, and their ears deafened with the never-ending atoms, which drifted everywhere, Ibrahim directed the attention of his companion to a cloud of sand in the distance.
“What of it?” asked Max.
“Camels.”
“Well?”
“It is a caravan, and if we can reach it we shall be safe.”
“But——”