The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1878-01-31

| Ahmed TnOugnG MIN Qoad. Ihey
were alone in the desert, a hundred
miles from home, without food or water
and with grcan Of despair he sat dowr
beside his sons body, bowed his head
and waited until death should come tx
him also. An Arab believes in fate, anc
gives up once for all when misfortune
occurs.
But Mustapha stirred, and Ahmed al
once sprung up. There was nothing he
could do for the poor boy, except &c
chafe and rub his hands; but this was
something, for presently Mustapha re-
yived enough to speak.
''Are they gomez" he asked.
:" Yes, the accursed ones, they are
gone, with all our goods and with Soil
min The Prophets curse light upon
them /" And, passing from despair to
fury, Ahmed threw sand upon his head,
and flung himself on the ground in help
less rage. Mustapha joined in with
groans and lamentations.
When the father and son grew calmer,
they began to discuss their situation
Ahmed knew of small unfrequented
oasis, about twenty miles away. Il was
their only chance of safety, but could
they reach it?
81 think I can walk" declared Mus
tapha, tying up his wounded leg in a
fold torn from his trrban. But he
imped sadly, and his tightly-pressed
lips showed pain as he moved. He was
faint with hunger beside. Neither Of
the men had eaten since sunrise.
Suddenly Mustapha uttered joyful
cry, and lifted something from the
earth.
"The Prophet be praised!" be cried.
+" My father, here is food. The robbers
have dropped bag of dates"
Sure enough, there it lay, a heavy bag
OF dates, shaken from off some camel's
pack during the struggle. Heavy as it
was, and hard to carry, Ahmed
would fain have had it larger. It
was their safety from starvation. A
handful of it's contents satisfied hunger,
and gave them strength to begin their
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 &C.
complished more than half the distance.
All through the hot day 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, moment 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
biood-shot eyes, seized Mustapha's arm,
and pointed. There, not hundred yards
away, was the oasis, it's trees and bushes
outlined against the sky. @
Poor Mustapha was SO spent that his
father had to drag him across the short
dividing space. 1t was small oasis,
and not very fertile; its we'll was shallow
and scanty, but no ice-cooled sherbet
ever seemed more delicious than did it's
brackish waters to the parched tongues
of the exhausted men.
All day and all night they lay under
the shadow of the cactuses and the
acacia-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 week before they could be
said to be wide awake again. Such a
pair of scare-crows as they looked /!
Ahmed was almost naked. The robbers
had taken part of his clothes, and the
desert thorns the resi-. Haggard, wild,
blackened by the sun, they gazed at
each other with horror; each thought.
EDO 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. Tt
seemed years, but [ suppose it could not
have been more than weeks All day
long they looked wistfully toward the
horizon, in hopes of caravan, but the
caravan never came. Slowly the dates
dwindled in the bag; slowly the precious
water diminished in the well: a little
longer, and starvation would be upon
them. They scarcely spoke to each 9TH
er those last days, but sat each by him
self in sort of dull despair. At night.
when they fell asleep, they dreamed
of food, and woke in the morning to
feel themselves still hungry. It was
horrible
Then came a morning when they rose
to find the hard desert outline, which
they knew so we'll, vanished and gone,
and in it's stead a smooth, shining lake.
fringed with trees and dotted with
feathery, fairy islands. Sonear itseemed,
and so real, that it was as though they
heard the ripple 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 he gave
wild cry, and was rushing away; but
his father held him fast.
Stay, my son! Stay, Mustapha II
is no lake-it is device of Satan. What
you behold is the mirage, spread by
devils for mems destruction"
" Let me go!' shrieked Mustapha,
writhing and struggling.
But, even as he strove, the soft water
outlines shifted and tremhIad. tbo lo1ro