The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-07-21

spider.
 At the end of a month he had
 reached the fifth oasis. and had trav- eiled more than three hundred miles from the settlement. Another two hum dred miles would bring him to the great caravan route. There he pro- posed to remain until he wanted to re- turn to England.
 He left the fifth oasis with a plen-
 tiful supply of dates and water, and
 travelled for six days. bearing forty
 i've degrees to the south of the point where the sun rose. At the end of
 the sixth day he began to be anxious
 He should have come to the next oasis.
 for, he was travelling fifteen miles a day. but. wherever he looked, there
 was still an unbroken vista of sands
 He only had food and water for ap- other five days.
 He was uncertain how to act He
 had evidently gone too for to the north
 or too far to the south. but he could
 not tell in which direction he had made
 the error. He scanned the horizon in
 vain for any sign of a tree. But 1t was not easy to see far on the great
 undulating plain. The air. heated bv the sun. moves unceasingly, and ob- structs clear view in any direction. He took penny from his pocket and tossed 1t in the air. Heads, south; tails, north," he said to the camel.
 Heads 1t is. old boy" he cried. and thrust the coin under the camei's nose,
 as though to show that there was no | cheating.
 Then he. remembered the last time
 he tossed and the result of the de- cision.
 The coins Iie." he said aloud after
 pause. We will go north. see-saw. due north"
 And northwards he went, and before another day had passed, he sighted | some dark blotches on the horizon. As he drew nearer. he noticed that l the palms were shorter than usual. and that there was an absence of green | herbage at the foot of them. It was not till he came within a | quarter of a mile of them that he re- alized what had happened. The oasis had lain in the track of a great sand storm. and had been almost made one with the desert.
 When he reached the trees he found that he could almost touch the leaves \ of some. It was easy enough to gath | ST the fruit. But he could not find any trace of water. Perhaps the spring | lay under dozen feet of sand. He stayed there the night and then | proceeded on his way. A new danger confronted him. He had read of these sandstorms. more terrible than any storm at sea. A death from which there was no escape--a choking, blind- | ing. horrible death. They were not 1 frequent. but. when they came. they swept every living thing into one smooth, brown tomb.
 When he had gone about ten miles on his journey. to the next oasis. his attention was drawn to- small piece | of scarlet cloth sticking out of a mound l of sand. He dismounted and pulled at 1t with both his hands. It resisted | his efforts, and seemed to be part of something buried deep in the sands. Sir Richard Gaunt dug away the sand with both his hands until his fingers came to something solid. Then he | paused for moment. He knew what l he had found, but did not know wheth- CT he wished to see more of 1t. I He decided that it was his duty to acish his work, and. after a little more
 scooping out of the sand. he barred f face and body to the sunshine. | He recognized the face, and, half shutting his eyes. he fumbled aat the clothes, and found a leather pouch. | From this he took a letter, sealed with J red wax and decorated with tassels of