Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1913-02-12


tied the thong that strangled the life
in his hands. Forward again. This
was a trife better. He could now
ease himself with his hands. No one
1nterfered with him when he tore off
the bandages over his eyes and
mouth. The camels were now urged
to a swifter pace.
Egyptian night, well called, he
thought. He could discern nothing
but phantom-like grey silhouettes that
bobbed up and down after the fashion
of corks upon water. Before him and
behind him; how many camels made
UP the caravan he could not tell. He
could hear the faint slip-slip as the
beasts shuffled forward in the fine
heavy sand. They were well out into
the desert, but what desert was as
yet a. mystery. He had forgotten to
keep the points of the compass in his
mind. And to pick out his bearings
by any particular star was to him no
more simple than translating Chinese.
Far, far away behind he saw lumi-
nous pallor in the sky, the reflected
lights of Cairo. And only few hours
ago he had complained to the head
waiter because Of the bits of cork
floating in his glass of wine. All, for
the dregs of that bottle now; warmth,
revival, new courage! Curse
the luck! There went one Of his
pumps. He called out. The man rid
ing in front and leading Georges
camel merely gave a yank at the rope.
The camel responded with q cough
and quickened gait.
Presently George became aware Of
singular fact: that he could see out
Of one eye better than the other;
and that the semi-useless orb shot out
little stars with every beat Of his
heart. One of his ears, too, began to
throb and burn. He felt Of it. It was
less like an ear than mushroom. It
had been rafting good mix-up, any
how; and he accepted the knowledge
rather proudly that the George Perci-
val Algernon, who but lately had en-
tered the English-Bar sprucely and
mad made his exit in kind Of negli-
gible attire, had left behind one char
acter and brought away another New
er again was he going to be shy: the
tame tiger, as it were, had had his
first taste of blood.
Dawn, dawn; if only the horizon
would brighten up a little so that he
could get his bearings. BY now they
were at least fifteen or twenty miles
from Cairo; but in what direction?
Hour after hour went by; over this
huge grey roll Of sand, down into that
cup-like valley; soundless save when
the camels protested or his stirrup
clinked against a buckle; all with the
somber aspect Of a scene from Dante.
| Several black spots, moving in circles
far above, once attracted George; and
he knew them to be kites, which will
follow a caravan into the desert even
as gull Will follow a ship out to sea.
LaJer, a torpid Indifference took pos
session of him, and the sense of pain
numbness.
And when at last the splenaor Of
the dawn upon the desert flashed like
a sword-blade along the sky in the
east, grew and widened, George COM
pretended one thing clearly, that they
were in the Arabian desert, out of the
main travelled paths, in the middle Of
nowhere.
His sense of beauty did not respond
to the marvel of the transformation.
The dark grey of the sand-hills that
became violet at their bases, to fade
away upward into little pinnacles of
shimmering gold; the drab, formless,
scattered boulders, now assuming
! clear-cut shapes, transfused with ruby
and sapphire glowing; the sun itself
that presently lifted it's rosal warm
ing circle above the stepping-off
place-George saw but noted not. The
physical picture was overshadowed by
the one he drew in his mind: the good
ship Ludwig, boring her way out into
the sea.
The sun was free from the deserts
rim when the leading camel was halt
ed. A confusion ensued; the camels
following stupidity into one another, in
g. kind Of panic. Out Of the silence
came babble of voices, granting, a
clatter of pack-baskets and saddle
bags. Geor e, as his camel kneeled,
slid off involuntarily and tumbled
against a small hillock, and lay there,
without any distinct sense Of what
was going on round him. The sand,
fine and mutable, formed a couch COM
fortingly under his aching body; and
he fell asleep, exhausted. Already the
impalpable dust, which had risen and
followed the caravan all through the
night, had powder I'd his clothes, and
his face was stained and streaked.
His head lay in the sand, his soft Fe-
dora crushed under his shoulders.
What with the bruises visible, the
rents in his coat, the open shirt,
soiled, crumpled, collarless, he in
vited pity; only none came from the
busy Arabs. AS he slept, frown
gathered upon his face and remained
there.
When he came back from his
troubled dreams, bowl of rice,
+binnpd nv hot water was Given him