"No, you did not," replied Reeves dryly. "If you had, I trust you would have wakened instantly and stood to your arms. Unfortunately, I was compelled to kill one of our camels. The poor brute went lame. I feared as much yesterday, when I took them to the river to drink; this morning I found that it was a hopeless case. On the one hand, we've lost a good hierie; on the other, we've a good supply of meat and only one camel to feed, although where we are to get another meal for it goodness only knows. But set to, boys, and have a good breakfast. We've more than we can carry with us."
"What are you cleaning up the sword for?" asked Gerald, as he helped himself to a second slice of the savoury meat.
"Only to see what marks there are on the blade," replied Reeves. "So far I've been successful. There are three crosses, some writing in quaint characters which up to the present I have been unable to decipher, and the date."
"What date is it?" asked both lads in the same breath.
"Here you are—MDCCIX, or 1709. So that explodes the Crusader theory."
"Have you any possible explanation?" asked Hugh.
"Cannot say," replied Reeves; "but that will stand for the present. We've much to do before we can make another start."
By the time the remaining camel was loaded it was early noon; but the sun seemed not to affect the three Englishmen as it had during the earlier part of their wanderings. On a day's journey they invariably rested during the heat of the day; but as several precious hours since daybreak had already flown, Reeves decided that the customary halt should be for once dispensed with.
After about ten miles had been traversed, the party came to an abrupt halt. The river, never voluminous, entered into a swamp surrounded by low sandhills. There, as far as they could judge, it ended.
The three comrades gazed at each other in consternation. Although Reeves had previously prepared himself for a discovery of this sort, he felt the disappointment acutely; while the lads, who had been buoyed up by hope and the energy of youth, seemed absolutely "knocked out of time". Retreat was impracticable, a dash into the trackless desert was little short of madness, while to stay where they were was only to court death by starvation.