Eagle River Democrat. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1893-1896, 1896-05-25
CAST AWAY IN THE DESERT.

An Explorers Story of the Loss of a Com
rade in the Salaran Waste.
The world hears often enough of*casta-
ways on the wild waste of ocean waters.
Is it not likely also that some of the
men who cross the vast eXpanse of desert
in Africa and Asia Somtimes wander
from their caravans, lose their bearings,
and perish miserably among the almost
boundless sands? An explorer has re-
corded one such case in his own expert
ence, and it is not at all improbable that
there are many more.
1t was during that famous journey of
DIR. LenZs across the Sahara, sixteen
years ago, that one of his men sdisap-
peared from view on a dark night and
was never seen again. LEM was bound
from Morocco to TimbuctOO, the city
forbidden to infdels, which he entered in
disguise. He was in the midst of one
of the largest expanses of utterly DESC
late sand waste in the great desert, and
his guide, long trained in desert travel,
was plotting the little party on their
way in the night, because travel was
almost intolerable during the heat of the
day.
About 3 o'clock in the morning DIR.
LEM, desiring a drink of water, called
to Hadsch Hassan, who rode one of the
water-laden camels. He called again and
again, but there was no response. The
nine camels were slowly walking one be-.
hind the other. Sid Muhamed was
trudging along on foot behind the last
camel, which Hadsch Hassan had been
riding. Everybody else, except the
guide, was half asleep on hissoW BEAST.
LEM called a halt and shouted to the
man on foot to come to him.
'Where is Hadsch Hassan?' he asked
of Sid Muhamed as that person APP
preached.
II haven't seen him for about an hour"
replied that rather stupid camel driver.
II was just in front of him when he
told me that he had dropped his stick
and was going back for it. He thought
jumped to the ground, asked me to look
after his animal, and then 1 lost sight
of him in the dark. l expected 10 see
him any minute. He must be coming
now. OF course he can follow our track.
His camel Jagged behind, and so dis
mounted and drove the beast along"
Camp was pitched at once in the dark
ness. Sid Muhamed had not troubled
himself about his comrade, but now Oh
were anxious. Men were sent to the
tops of sand dunes, and until daylight
they called loudly for the missing man.
Fires were kindled on the highest ele-
vations and a few shot were fired, 8
very few, for gunpowder was of exceed
ing value in the little caravan. In the
morning parties were sent out, two men
III each, to ScOur the country aTOunI.
The tents were pitched on the sand,
under the broiling sun, until 4 o'clock
that afternoon, when all the parties
came in and reported not a trace Of the
missing man. Then the tents were
packed away and the handful of men
with their camels sorrowfully resumed
their march. 1t was impossible to re-
main longer. The water supply, car
ried in skin bags, was getting short,
and all would perish unless Aruan, with
it's bounding wells, was reached betimes-
Hadsch Hassan was accustomed to
desert travel. Nobody believed that he
purposely separated himself from the
caravan. The most probable theory of
his disappearance was that, in the
search for his stick, he went back over
the course the caravan had followed for
a considerable distance, and that, en-
deavoring to regain the party, he either
lost the track or found and mistakenly
followed that of some other caravan.
However this may be, he was never seen
again No caravan is known to have
brought any news of his fate. He prob
ably persisted of thirst among the Sa-
haran sands. Death was even more GER
tain to be the outcome of his mis-
fortunes than in the case of castawayS
in the ocean, for there was far less hope
that succor would reach him before it
was too late.-New York Sun.