The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1903-03-18

Soudan, etc.-Society journal.
Seeing the above in a metropolitan
weekly and being desirous OF renewing
acquaintance with an interesting old
friend, for he always had new ex-
perience Of thrilling interest to exploit,
FASTENED up to his favorite club, and,
between puffs of Havana perfcctos,
obtained the following account Of n
weird predicament, which give as
nearly verbatim as my memory allows
me:
The desert!" exclaimed the colonel,
rapturously. "Ah, my boy. standing
on the brink Of the great Nubian sand
seas, one is transfixed. The. sun was
just peeping over the barren cliffs
beyond the Nile, tipping them with a
dull fire, when the order came to start
My heart leaped. l forgot all dangers,
and thought only of adventure, of new
sensations. The chief guide gave the
word, and we mounted, giving civiliza-
seemed, a single backward glance.
There were five of us, with guides
and men; and 1t was the third day of
last March that we started over the
difficult trail from Korosko, taking
the southwark trail toward Absoh,
leading through the very bowels of the
Nubian sands. Our objects were di-
verse. My own was to discover some
rare antiquities of which had heard
rumors, but the principal interest on
the part of the others was to rediscover
the abandoned gold mines of Absoh.
Knowing that the Nubians are con-
frmed in their Incidence and utterly
unacquainted with the modern methods
of prospecting. the two experts of the
party-one a Californian and the other
an Australian-both thoroughly famil
lar with gold-bearing regions, felt con-
vinced that with patient effort, there
was a possibility of unearthing a for
tune, and the exciting experiment was
at least worth the trial.
For four days our little caravan
snailed along the barren sands, pass
ing FL Murrah, or springs of bitter
water, and all went well. Then the
journey, which for the first day or two
was full Of varied novelties, began to
grow painfully monotonous. To make
matters worse, the geerbah skins.
which were used to carry fresh water
from the Nile, were daily growing fat
ter. The wells of Ell Murrah we're sa-
line and heavy with brackish sediment,
,,nt, he alc n ax,1y - he
water without suffering i'll effects, the
men who INDUCED freely were seized
with intense gripings. Two days south
ward from the wells a strange incident
occurred.
"Our way led over the beaten camel
month the tract was obliterated by the
drifting sands. Now and then we
scarcely knew our way save that the
route was pointed out to us by the
wreckage of former caravans which
had shed the sick and exhausted by
the wayside, both man and beast, leav-
ing them to the merciless sun and the
prowling jackals till death relieved
them. There is no place on the face
of the globe where the survival of the
fittest means SO much as here on the
Nubian desert, where the caravan nev-
er stops; and If the poor native cannot
plod on, no halt is made for his recov-
cry. The consequence is, that the far
ther one progresses, the more skeletons
Of men and beasts point the uncertain
way through the drifting sands, and
the sight Is surely most depressing.
my camel was not a particularly
fast one. He had a habit of tagging
behind, so that once or twice a day
the caravan was compelled to halt and
wait for me to come up, like a lost
vertebra Of a skeleton reptile. On
this occasion, while somewhat behind
the party, a fine young gazelle
crossed my path not a dozen rods
ahead, dashing with sudden fright
into a little ravine which appeared
to be closed at the farther end, so
that apparently he was made prison.
er. Rifle in hand, leaped from my
camel. Eagerly ! made my way
through the hot, ankle-deep sand to
tht iiollO up
distance, ready to bring down my
game. To my surprise however, l
found that there were several turns
beyond, and soon saw that my chase
was bootless. Dejectedly l made my
way back to my camel, which had not
stirred, and seemed only too glad for
the little respite from the racking
toll of the march. Taking good
draught from my geerbah of water, and
also filling my canteen, l. drew the
beast to his knees, as is customary
when mounting. so that by placing
my foot upon his neck, by his up
ward movement Of the head he would
raise me, enabling me to step into the
cushioned seat between the humps. AS
was fixing my foot on the camel's
neck, however, the sudden raising of
his head caused a knife to slip from my
belt In such way that it grazed the
beasts TANKS. giving him slight but
stinging flesh wound. Up he started,
and SO suddenly, with that quick up
rd throu of tho hodv that mae