Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-02-10

med threw sand upon his head, and flung
himself on the ground in helpless rage.
Mustapha joined in with groans and la
mentations.
When the father and son grew calmer,
they began to discuss the situation. All
med knew of q small unfrequented oasis,
about twenty miles away. It was their
only chance Of safety, but could they
reach it?
Il think can walk, declared Mus
tapha, tying up his wounded leg
in fold torn from his turban.
But he limped sadly, and his
tightly pressed lips showed pain as he
moved. He was faint with hunger be-
sides. Neither of the men had eaten
since sunrise.
Suddenly Mustapha uttered q low
full cry, and lifted something from the
earth.
''The prophet be praised!" he cried.
''My father here is food. The robbers
have dropped bag of dates.''
Sure enough. there it lay heavy bag
of dates, shaken off from some camel's
pack during the struggle. Heavy as 1t
was, and hard to carry, Ahmed would
fain have it larger. 1t was their safety
from starvation. A handful of its con-
tents satisfied hunger, and gave them
strength to begin their walk What a
walk it was! Poor Mustapha lay down
every half hour from pain and weakness;
the sand was heavy, the darkness puzzled
them. When morning broke, they had
not accomplished more than half the dis
lance. All through the hot daytime
they lay painting on the ground, eating
now and then date, tormented with
thirst and heat; and when evening came,
they dragged themselves to their feet
again, and recommended their painful
journey. step. by step, hour by hour,
each harder and longer than the last mo-
ment by moment they grew more
feeble, less able to bear up, till it seemed
as though they could no longer struggle
on. At last the morning broke. Ahmed
raised his blood-shot eyes, seized Mus
taphas arm, and pointed. There, not a
hundred yards away, was the oasis, its
trees and bushes outlined against the
sky.
Poor Mustapha was so spent that his
father had to drag him across the short
dividing space. It was small oasis, and
not very fertile; its well was shallow and
scanty, but no ice cooled sherbet ever
seemed more deliciouse than did its
brakish waters to the parched tongues of
the exhausted men.
All day and all night they lay under
the shadow of the cactuses and the aca-
cia-trees, rousing only to drink, and
falling asleep again Immediately. Shade,
and sleep, and water seemed the only
things IN the world worth having Just
then.
The second day they slept less, but it
was nearly a week before they could be
said to be wide awake again. Such pair
of scare-crows as they looked! Ahmed
was almost naked. The robbers had
taken part of his clothes, and the desert
thorns the rest. Haggard, wild, blacken-
ed by the sun, they gazed at each other
with horror; each thought, "Do I look
like that?' and each tried to hide from
the other his own dismay.
They could never tell afterward how
long they remained at the oasis. 1t
seemed years, but do not suppose it
could have been more than weeks. All
day long they looked wistfully toward
the horizon, in hopes Of a caravan, but
the caravan never came. Slowly the
dates dwindled in the bag? slowly the
precious water diminished in the we'll;
a little longer and starvation would be
upon them. They scarcely spoke to each
other those last days, but sat each by
himself in sort of dull despair. At
night, when they fell asleep, they dream
ed of food and woke in the morning to
feel themselves hungry. It was terrible!
Then came morning when they rose
to find the hard desert outline, which they
knew so we'll, vanished and gone, and in
its stead smooth, shining lake, fringed
with trees and dotted with feathery, fairy
islands. So near it seemed, and so real
that it was as though they heard the rip
pie of the water and the rustling of the
wind in the tree-boughs. Mustapha
stared as though his eyes would burst
from his head; then gave wild cry and
was rushing away, but his father held
him fast
."stay, my son! Stay Mustapha it IS
no lake, it is "a device of Satan. What
you behold IS the mirage spread by devils
for mans destruction"
''Let me go!' shrieked Mustapha, strug-
Cling and writhing.
But even as he strove, the soft water
outlines shifted and trembled; the lake
rose in the air, melted and sailed off into
curling mists; the trees, the whole
fair picture, dissolved, and the well-re-
membered sands and black rocks took
its place. With cry of horror, Mus
tapha slid through his fathers arms to
the earth, hid his face, and cried like
child.
Next morning only one date was left
in the bag. Ahmed put it in his sons
hand with mournful look.
''Eat, my son. he said; eat and then
we will die, Allah il Allahv'
A long silence followed; there seemed
nothing more to say.
Su00an1v from, ofar off co,no IN 4ho;r