“Bismillah!” exclaimed the old sheik, “why do you not die, my friend? We are waiting for the fulfilment of your destiny.”
“I am dead,” ejaculated the sufferer, speaking in a faint voice, and apparently with great difficulty.
Having said this, he relapsed into silence and remained motionless as a corpse.
The sheik then placed one hand upon his temples. “Yes!” he exclaimed, “the words of our friend are those of truth and wisdom. He is dead.”
The wounded man was then rolled into the cavity which had been scooped out, and they hastily proceeded to cover him with sand.
As they did so, his hands were repeatedly uplifted, while a low moaning came from his lips; but his movements were apparently unseen, and his cries of agony unnoticed.
His companions remained both deaf and blind to any evidence that might refute his own assertion that he was dead.
The sand was at length heaped up so as to completely cover his body, when by an order from the old sheik his followers turned away from the spot and the kafila moved on.