Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1900-08-30
CHAPTER vi.

marcn IN the desert. A marcn
over that waste of painless, yellow
sand, under burning. torrid sun,
with sky above of quivering. paipi-
tating, passionate, blazing heat; with
burning. sand-blistered feet, blood
shot, sand-filled eyes, clothes soaked
to wet pulp with perspiration, limbs
that almost refused to drag their
weary weight over the way.
1t was Paul Clelands first experience
Of the desert. Most of the long line Of
human beings, creeping like a black
snake across the white waste, had been
there before. some of them for many
years, during preceding campaigns. but
Cleland had no experience of the Sou
dan, and he suffered in proportion, as
| all newcomers do.
Still, he was tough and strong, and
had all Scotchman's logged endur-
ance; he would never own himself
beaten where others did not.
They were marching from Berber to
| Atbara, and had as yet heard nothing
| of the enemy.
Cleland had already found h's serv-
| ices required. One or two of tie new
recruits among the British had been
attacked by such diseases as only the
| desert knows. These he had treated,
to his own immense satisfaction, sue
cessfully. 1t was good to know that
he was necessary factor to the we'll
being of the army.
| Coming out of a binding sandstone
one day they halted at a ruined vii
lage. destroyed by the Mahdi's cruel
decree, and remained there overnight.
| Cleland found ruined hut, in which
Ii established himself, with his two
native boys" to keep guard. He was
dead tired, and, making himself as
comfortable as he could, he relied him
self in his rug and was soon fast
asleep, though the far-off screams of
jackets prowling in the outskirts Of
the camp, sometimes mingled with the
hoarse laugh of the hyena, might have
kept him awake under other circum-
stances.
| Suddenly. however, he was awak-
ened, and that effectually. Something
| was moving IN the nut.
He started up in bed and looked
around The moon-a desert moon,
white and clear almost as daylight
was shining into the tent BY its
light he could see his two boys"
asleep on the sun-baked turf that
formed the floor in far corner of the
hut
He saw something else. though-a
smooth, round, dark head and two
glazing eyes, looking like balls of
fire, fixed on his face.
| He could not tell what the animal
was at that distance. 1t might be a
| jacket, a panther, or-most terrible of
ala hyena, watching its opportunity
for a spring. But, whatever it was,
Cleland had no doubt about one thing
his only safety lay in perfect self
possession at this awful moment.
| He was usually cool and self-pos-
sessed enough; but there are not
many men who can wake up at the
dead Of night, to find a bloodthirsty
beast of prey within a few feet of
| them, and experience no sensation of
fear. Cleland knew that his heart
| was beating in strong, heavy throbs,
| like the strokes of sledge hammer,
| and that his forehead was wet with
| perspiration, not altogether brought
there by the heat and closeness of the
night.
He dared not move his eyes from
those glaring balls fixed upon them.
! He knew that to do so would mean an
instant spring on the part of the crea-
ture. He could not call his boys. In
all probability they would howl with
terror, and rouse the animal to greater
| fury.
His rifle was on a camp stool not
| five feet away, but almost beside that
| crouching dark form. II he had but
put 1t underneath his head, But it was
no time for regrets, it was a time for
action. He must make up his mind at
once what he was to do; at any mo-
ment the animal might spring.
He cautiously put out his arm. still
keeping his eyes fixed on the crea-
| lures. Then. without once turning his
glance aside. he tried to creep stealth
lily across towards the camp-stool. The
creature uttered a low, threatening
sound. something between bark and
a howl.
But Cleland was now desperate. He
felt that, whatever happened, he must
get at the rifle. He made a sudden
dart forward. AS he did so he heard
apnthar Inw fhraa tanfno e,nu,t M
next instant he had his rifle in his
hand.
II was a short-range one. fortunate
ly. He lifted 1t and fired. The ami
mal-he could see now 1t was hyena,
whose movements are slower and less
agile than those of the feline tribe OF
carnivorous animals-rushed at him,
and he saw its cleaning teeth. Crack,
crack! went the rifle. A bullet passed
right through the beasts skull and,
with horrid souni-half laugh. half
yell--it dropped at his feet and rolled
over. dead.
The native boys. awakened by the
crack of the rifle. started to their feet.
bowling. and made a rush for the
door, made of thick brushwood thickly
tied together. which had only been
kept secure by the kit. which had been
rolled close to it from the inside.
Here boys. come back" cried Gle
land loudly. But seeing that the
boys" were already through the door
way, he rushed to 1t and followed.
Outside, the moonlight flooded the
scene; the great stretch of brownish-
yellow sand looked white beneath it;
the tents Of the officers and the rough