“Be dark before long,” predicted Fekmah. “Then we will have to stop and wait for the moon. If you have not before traveled on desert under moon, you have much to see.”
They plodded continually on, Bob and Joe occasionally taking motion pictures. As the heat gradually became less intense, the youths felt a thrill of exultation run through their veins. Now there was nothing to worry about, no fierce sun to sweat under, no cares or anxieties to occupy their minds. Life—life on the boundless Sahara—seemed great.
“The folks back home are sure missing something,” smiled Bob. “Though I suppose a lot of them wouldn’t care for doings of this kind.”
Slowly the darkness came. At last, when the little caravan was in a notch between two unusually high dunes, Tishmak called a halt and conversed with Fekmah. Then the latter turned to the Americans.
“Tishmak says it is not thing to go on through darkness,” he told them. “Might come on to something bad. We’ll wait here for moon to come out, then go on.”
“Now’s a good chance to get our suppers,” said Dr. Kirshner, commanding his dromedary to lower.
By the aid of flashlights a limited but satisfying meal was prepared on paper, and the adventurers all ate heartily.
“Too bad there’s nothing for the camels,” said Mr. Lewis.
“No need of worrying about them,” returned Fekmah. “They can have no food or drink for good many days. Soon we come to region of thin vegetation. Then they eat.”