Tired though I was, it was some little time before I got to sleep that night. I’m not given to pessimistic forebodings, but I could not help wondering, as I lay awake in the dark, whether we were wise in going on. Things look so different when you think them out by yourself in the dark from what they seem in the light in company. However, I do believe in Providence very firmly, and the coincidences we had met and heard of in this quest seemed too marked for me to disbelieve. So, finally pushing my doubts firmly into the background, I fell asleep to the whistling music of the sand-laden wind outside.
CHAPTER VII
THE DISTANT HILLS
It must have been about four in the morning that I woke, with the same sort of feeling of something being different as you have when a ship stops at night, and the absence of the engines’ murmur, which kept you awake the first night or two, now wakes you up seeking the accustomed sound.
Then I realized that the wind had stopped. I unlaced the tent flies to see if the sky was cloudy or clear, but as I came out I heard a rushing sound and a gust beat on the tent as if it would tear it from its pegs. A thick whirl of sand filled the air, and the rush of it woke the others.
“What’s up?” called out Wrexham as I struggled with the flies.
I explained as best I could, and while doing so smelt the unmistakable fresh smell of rain.
“By Jove, I believe it’s rain coming up!” I called out, and pulled the flies apart again. The wind dropped, and was succeeded by a steady patter on the tent wall.
It got harder and harder and steadier and steadier, and we heard the men stirring.
“Come on!” called Wrexham, “all hands outside with every d——d pot and pan you can get and see if we can fill ’em.”
By the light of the rain-dimmed hurricane-lamp I could see Firoz spreading out the cooking-pots, and Payindah taking advantage of the wind stopping to peg out a waterproof-sheet. Cold as it was, we stood out in the rain for the sheer pleasure of feeling the sand being washed off our faces and our skins expanding again. Our scanty water ration had allowed nothing for washing. It rained more or less continuously for nearly two hours, and stopped just as the dawn was breaking.