I had seen them, first one, then two ... then two more ... appearing for just a second in the sky, then vanishing, and I knew what they meant. Shaking off a chill of forboding I dismissed the foul creatures with an intrepid wave of my hand.
“Our bones were not born to be bleached,” I said cheerily.
“Here’s hoping,” was the brave reply.
Thus began the fourth day. It was a day of forced riding. Riding the lead-camel I urged the beasts to their best gait, keeping a close eye on my pocket compass.
“Hew to the East, let the sand fall where it may,” was my thought. Pad ... fell the cushioned feet of our animals, pad ... pad ... pad ... mile after mile into nothingness. From noon until four o’clock we rested, then, on—until nearly midnight when we sank exhausted for a few hours’ sleep. Food and water supply were running low. “Tomorrow,” I thought, “we must find something!” closing my eyes on the desperate hope.
I awoke to a fresh catastrophe. In organizing our flight-caravan Ab-Domen had included an extra pack-camel, an Asian dromedary, the meanest type known to man. This made five beasts in all. Due to thirst and exhaustion they were nervous and irritable. The sound which aroused me was a loud roar almost human in its savageness.
The dromedary had attacked my high spirited mount and before I could shout a word of command or interfere in any way the entire group were mixed in an inextricable battle-royal. A fight between two camels is a dangerous thing to approach; five made a storm center which was as menacing as a buzz-saw.
Amid a wild bellowing they charged, bumped, bit, kicked, whirled and fell, lashing, thrashing, smashing ... my heart sank as I heard the rending crack of bone against bone. After a mad half-hour they lay compactly locked, exhausted, blood-shot, panting and glaring, hump locked with hump, teeth bedded in soft flesh, legs protruding at every angle like a pile of animal jack-straws.
When I was able to drag them, one by one, apart I knew that the worst had befallen us. Out of twenty legs, seventeen were broken! Not a single beast was able to stand.
“Tremendous, wasn’t it?” said Lady Sarah.