Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-09

Atahair and Mahomed returned the following
afternoon with the disheartening news that they
had found nothing The former had discovered
no clue as to where we were-in fact, he can
dfdIy confessed he was completely loStl MY
feelings toward him now were far from broSner~
w. for Il was obvious that he must have wan"
dered away from the proper route days before
and instead Of informing me, had Kept ms
blunder to himself, hoping either to meet Tua-
regs who could put him right or-by stroke
Of luck-to regain the correct track
More than once had commented on what
my compass showed 70 be tendency to travel
farther to the westward than calculated we
should have done, but not word Of his dev1a~
ton from the right route had he mentioned
calmly leaving me under the deiusion tnat an
was well. Had he only confessed his error, how
different things would have beenl The water
would have been more strictly rationed and
the supply conserved, and If the worst befell We
could have retraced our steps to Tadeghat
AS it was, what were we to do, h0pelessiy
lost In this awful desert? The camels, al-
though a little rested, were in terribly weak
condition from lack Of food and the quest for
pasture had become equally important, so far
as they were concerned, as that for water.
The chances of their surviving the six long
and exhausting marches back over the grim and
barren stretch of desert across which we had
Just come seemed only too slender: there was.
moreover the probability that our tracks had
been completely obliterated by the wind. Be-
sides the thought of turning back after having
come so far was very repugnant to me.
NV map gave me no assistance, for it was
only very snal-scaIe affair and one could not
rely on its accuracy for anything but very large
and general features. Plotting out the bearings
had kept since leaving the last water hole did
not help much. because my calculations Of the
length Of the daily marches had necessarily
kaanva nVNlw had M
Of judging them than by the rate the cazrlels
moved and the duration Of the march The one
thing that appeared more or less certain was
that we had come too far to the west and in
order to regain our proper route must turn
eastward.
the point we had now reached lay some dis
lance south of the parallel Of latitude ON which
Katelet lies and n-as 1t would be the simplest
thing in the world to dove missed the water
hole or even the track, We might unwittingly
20 wandering on into the absolutely unknown
desert which stretches away to the east for
several hundred miles as far rs the Djado
region. This risk. however, had to be faced.
and It was decided to move on In N.NE.
direction next morning, following the line Of .
small valley between the hills.
made Atahair 60 OF again that afternoon
In this direction to see If he could pick up some
familiar landmark He returned m the. eve
ming, saying that he thought he could recog-
nise q hill In the distance and felt sure that he
could bring us to water in three days time.
This was little more cheering, but my faith
in his abilities was now somewhat shaken, %
that did not feel unduly optimistic.
THE more thought over matters the more I
realized the seriousness Of our situation
but even now was far from visualixing the
terrible straits to which We were to be reduced
In the course of the next few days.
That night - I Lay in my tent pondeEang