Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-07-29

camels. but my guide, Ali Hassan, a
Jaalin trlbesman. connived at the fraud.
The latter paid for his knavery with his
life. The former ought to have suffered
in similar fashion. and probably will if
ever | set eyes on him again. The gray
bearded old villain bargained to sell me
the very best riding camels; and instead
he furnished me with a couple of ancient
Bishareen brutes, good to look at, but
of no value for desert travelling. They
carried us 30 miles in the length of time
they should have gone 90, and then freed
themselves from their hobbies during the
night and ambled off into the unknown,
leaving us with so miles of desert in front
of us, and less than two quarts of water
| between us.
Hassan dwelt much upon this latter cir
cumstance when he came at dawn to tell
me of our loss, and 1 noticed that his eyes
were wild and staring with fright. and
that his naturally swarthy face had be-
come ashen. AS for me, after the first
smart of %vexation had passed, 1 really
cared but little. Half a gallon of water
seemed a good deal. But at that time l
did not know awful soudan thirst-real-
lied nothing of the hideous torture that
was in store for me. The sun popped up
suddenly over the horizon, and five min
utes later the perspiration was bursting
out all over our bodies in big, beady
blobs. At the same time a guest of super
heated air drove a bushel or so of acrid
alkali dust into our mouths, eyes and
nOstrilS.
Come" I exclaimed, 1--WE must be get
ting on" And I set my face southwark
toward Shendy.
An hour later the first thirst pangs
seized me, and l caught myself LISTING
after our little store of water. which Has
san. plOd0lng in the rear of me, was car
rying in a goatskin bag slung over his
/ Chn11tlnI fnrGhnrn and ctn 1yo1 ctnliI.
ly onward. Shortly afterward the per-
spiration, which had been pouring from
me in streams, suddenly ceased.
By noon I computed that we had COW
cred 20 miles, but I felt that | was grow
ing feverish and light-headed. / turned
to Ali Hassan and beckoned him to bring
me the goatskin. He obeyed reluctantly,
and laid it at my feet. 1t was empty!
The traitor had swallowed every drop,
and now stood impassive, but fearful, his
eyes wandering from my face to the re,
volver at my hip and back again.
He evidently expected me to kill him
offhand. He certainly desreved it. New
ertheless. l could not bring myself to slay
in cold blood a defenseless man; so, mo-
tioning him to precede me, l resumed
once more the now we'll nigh hopeless
march. soon horrible stabbing pains be-
gan darting through my chest. My
tongue thickened and felt filled with
needle points. Red-hot irons seemed tc
be soaring my eyeballs. The joints stiff
ened, and every movement was agony
l could feel the thickened blood coagulat.
ing in my veins, n M head ached will
an unnatural violence that forebodeG
speedy insanity.
Night came; the moon rose. The stars
drew near through the thin, clear air, anC
the desert for a few brief hours wa
purged of it's hideous heat. The tortur.
ing thirst, however, remained. I would
have bartered all I possessed for the
chewing Of a dozen blades of grass. But
in all the vast expanse of sane was NJ
trace of vegetation, saw an except here