Either it was sheer obstinacy on Hugh's part, or else he failed to hear his elder comrade's warning, for without waiting for the already tractable camels to be brought out to entice the others, he advanced boldly towards the masterless animals.
Suddenly the five camels bolted, and in a cloud of sand were soon lost to sight.
Reeves bit his lip and said nothing. Hugh also was silent, but Gerald gave an exclamation of despair. The same fact was apparent to each of them. They were stranded in the desert, with only two hieries between them, and not a drop of water to drink.
CHAPTER VIII
A Discovery
"IT'S no use staying here all day," remarked Reeves at length. "Gather up the provisions, and take a musket and ammunition apiece, and we'll make a dash for the river; it can't be much more than twenty miles off."
He spoke as naturally as he could, but twenty miles across a trackless desert in the full heat of the blazing sun was no light journey, especially when one must be afoot. Besides, the presence of the river might be purely conjectural; it might make a sudden bend to the west, and instead of tramping twenty miles, the travellers might stagger on till they dropped, and still not find water.
However, it was a course for actions, not words; and, having armed themselves, Hugh and Gerald mounted the two remaining hieries, while Reeves walked between the animals.
But before they had traversed a hundred yards the correspondent stopped.
"Hand me that goatskin!" he exclaimed, and without a word as to his intentions he retraced his steps to the rock.