Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1908-02-06

WOul0n'C you!
CAV, This is the Land of Tantalus.
We are always thirsty. and there are
always dangled before us the water
and the fruits which we may not
drink" ,--~
It was not luxurious camp; the
water the people had to drink was
warm and brackish; the only prOtec-
tion they had against the night dews
was the cotton sheets which by day
the men wore as mantles or wrapped
round their bodies: the food they had
to eat consisted chiefly of dates. The
men were armed, for the most part,
with spears and shields, though there
were old guns among them. One would
certainly not think the tribe or the en-
campment worthy of the notice Of his
tory save for the fact that right in
the middle Of the camp there were
sitting, without any protection OF
white cotton tent, the two English
men whose remarks on the mirage you
have just heard. They were prisoners
of war, whose lives were spared when
the Egyptians wer4 all speared. Why
they were not massacred with the
rest has never been found out. Per
laps it will remain a secret forever.
They were pretty ragged by this
time, having been prisoners and on the
tramp for six months. Their coats,
hung upon their shoulders in long
strips, which they would have torn
off but for the protection afforded
against the sun; the legs Of their trous-
ers had been mostly torn off in strips
in order to provide bindings for their
feet, from which the boots had either
dropped or had been taken off. To
walk barefooted in the African sands
is for English feet very nearly the
same thing as to walk upon ten mil
lions of sharp pointed needles all red
hot. Even the eleven thousand British
virgins of Aachen had only one pin
for the whole lot to dance upon. But
suppose they had been ordered to
dance upon ten millions Of pins apiece!
Their flannel shirts were in strips; as
for watches, revolvers, glasses, water
bottles, belts, and everything else,
these had long since been taken from
them. OF all their kit they preserved
only their helmets, which, as bound
in common gratitude, had in return
preserved their owners lives against
sunstroke. Their hair had grown long
and matted, like the black ringlets
of their captors; their faces were cov-
cred with thick boards, and six
months wanderings in the desert on
diet principally composed CT dates and
brackish water had taken the super
fiuous fat from their fingers, sharpened
their features. given their eyes
peculiar brightness and eagerness un-
known in countries of civilization.
where the human eye is apt to swell
with fatness, and doubtless added ten
years to their lives should they ever
get home.
The scene before them, apart from
the mirage, was landscape of low
hills and rolling ground; everywhere
was gray sand, with, for vegetation.
tufts of dead desert grass. The two
Englishmen sat side by side in silence.
There was nothing to say. When
man has been made tramp, without
aim or object, for six long months,
during which he has had no news OF
the outer world. and has been all the
time hungry and thirsty. he is not
inclined to talk. Tonight the two men
were so tired with the days march
that they sat without speaking word,
until one of their captors brought them
supper, consisting Of some bread and
dates with a draught of water.
"Tom," said one of them, sis the
finest beverage at the club compar-
able with a good pull of warmish
water in such a place as this and after
such days march?
Tom was at the very moment talk
ing that pull.
When they had eaten their supper
they began to talk.
"TOm," said. the first. resuming the
conversation of the preceding night.
"my opinion remains the same. We
have come back somewhere near the
place where we started"
"You see," said Tom, "that If you
should happen to be wrong, our goose
is cooked without the least doubt and
we shall either starve in this Internal
desert or be captured again, when we
shall most certainly be stuck"
"Yes,-but I am sure that / am not
mistaken. I remember the outline of
those hills the very first day we were
brought in, when we expected to be
killed every instant"
"It may happen any minute as it is.
These fellows are not in a hurry, be-
cause we are always in their hands.
AS for me, very we'll remember the
funk l was In, but forgot the hills"
"Tom, it is the same place." the other
man repeated, earnestly. II am sure
1t is. We are within few hours of
the Egyptian fort. l believe they
have come back here in the hopes of
meeting other tribes and getting up
another massacre, If the Egyptians can
be lured outside their walls. Tom
he lowered his voice to whisper,
though not one could understand what
they We're saying within half days
march is freedom, If you want to win
it. Do you understand that?"
''It is not dark saying, old man. AS
for my wanting to win it," he replied
you're soldier. Take the command,
and tell me what to do. l will obey