The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1878-02-01

on the earth beside him.
Ahmed thought him dead They
were alone in the desert, hundred
miles from home, without food or water,
anu with grcan Of despair he sat down
beside his sons body. bowed his head,
and waited until death should come t.
him also. An Arab believes in fate, and
gives up once for all when misfortune
occurs.
But Mustapha stirred, and Ahmed at
once sprung up. There was nothing he
could do for the poor boy, except to
chafe and rub his handle; but this was
something, for presently Mustapha re-
vived enough to speak.
care they gomez" he asked.
Eyes. 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. 1t was
their only chance of safety, but could
they reach it?
IL think can walk" declared Mus
tapha, tying up his wounded leg in a
fold torn from his turban. But he
limped 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 |" he cried.
&" My father, here is food. The robbers
have dropped bag of dates"
of dates, shaken from off some camels
pack during the struggle. Heavy as it
was, and hard to carry, Ahmed
would fain have had it larger. 1t
was their safety from starvation. A
handful of its contents satisfied hunger,
and gave them strength to begin their
walk. What 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 ac-
complished more than half the distance.
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, 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, its trees and bushes
outlined against the sky.
Poor Mustapha was 80 spent that his
father had to drag him across the short
dividing space. 1t was small oasis,
and not very fertile; its well was shallow
and scanty, but no ice-cooled sherbet
ever seemed more delicious than did its
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 jus,
then.
The second day they slept less, but il
was nearly week before they could be
said to be wide.awake again. Such o
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
blackened by the sun, they gazed al
each other with horror; each thought
"Do look like that ?" and each trieo
to hide from the other his own dismay
They could never tell afterward how
long they remained at the oasis. 1,
! 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 we'll; little
longer, and starvation would be upor
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 Il
feel themselves still hungry. 1t wal
[ horrible
: Then came a morning when they rose
, to find the hard desert outline, which
they knew 80 we'll, vanished and gone
, and in its stead smooth, shining lake
fringed with trees and dotted will
feathery, fairy islands. Sonear it seemed
and 80 real, that it was as though they
8 heard the ripple of the water and thu
rustling of the wind in the tree boughs
Mustapha stared as though his eye
7 would burst from his head; then he CAV,
I a wild cry, and was rushing away; bu
| his father held him fast.
"Stay, my son Stay, Mustapha 1
{ is no lake-it is device of Satan. VIVA
l you behold is the mirage, spread b,
Q devils for mems destruction"
$ "Let me go' shrieked Mustapha
, writhing and struggling.
But, even as he strove, the soft water
s outlines shifted and trembled; the lax
/ rose in air, melted and sale,
{ off into curling mists; the trees
the whole fair rictura d;s