Evening star., 1936-04-12
kosozins Section

ItSCll TIhiooN kSet oiy 1Nu "lhh
fear Michael waited, expecting it to
attack him, but it slid gently off his
legs and with swift wriggle dis
appeared into an opening formed by
two stones a few feet farther along
the cave. 1t was apparently content
at having enjoyed the warmth of
his body during its nights slumber.
In frantic haste Michael gathered
together his few belongings and pre-
pared to leave the cave. AS he stepped
towards the entrance he suddenly
saw the cobra had come out of its
hole again and was coiled there,
watching him with its beady black
eyes. Its head, raised foot above the
ground and arching back, swayed
slightly from side to side and its long
forked tongue flickered in and out
with incredible swiftness. Michael
seized big fiat stone. flung it as the
snake reared up and crushed its
head against the side Of the cave.
Two such nervewracking expert
ences in the space of few minutes
had left Michael without appetite for
even the meagre breakfast he might
have had He strapped on his water
bag and belt and set out to find the
way out of the depression down which
he had come the night before.
Here he was faced with new diff
fculty In the semi-darkness he had
been unable to note any distinguishing
landmark, and all five of the hollows
which formed junction at that spot
now looked so similar that he did not
know which to take.
After some deliberation he decided
that his best hope lay in taking the
sun for guide and trying to break out
of the mountainous area back towards
the plain. If he failed to find the
camp in the next twenty-four hours
Ernest would have left the river and
his last hope would be gone. But, by
striking to the southwark and sticking
to the high ground as far as possible,
he would at least stand some chance
of picking up the convoy on it's
return during the few days that his
water supply would last
For hours he trudged along sandy
hillside, then climbed a rocky barrier,
where he ate sparingly and rested
awhile in the shadow of crag. In the
afternoon he pushed doggedly on
from valley to valley. often having to
make wide detours.
That night he selected his resting
place while he still had ample day
light and, having made certain that it
contained no undesirable occupants,
made a barrier in front of the en-
trance. AS night drew on the long
drawn out howls of some prowling
beast echoed eerily through the still
ness, and once he heard the soft pad
of feet and then long snuffiing breaths
as some beast shifted his scent through
the heap of boulders which formed his
barricade.
In the two days that followed the
conviction grew upon him that he
would never look upon a human face
again. His boots were cut to ribbons
by the jagged rocks, so he bound his
feet with pieces of the ground sheet
which he had used as water bag, and
stumbled YEARLY on from one ravine
to another, examining horizon after
horizon in a vain search for Ernest's
ox-wagon.
There were no streams, no wooded
heights, to vary the monotony of that
hellish country; only endless vistas
of rocks, boulders, and sandy soil in
which stunted thornbush and clumps
of dried. strawlike grass grew grudg-
ingly. The heat was so overwhelming
that for periods he became semi
delirious; singing to himself snatches
of long forgotten songs as he plodded
on, his head reeling and his body one
great ache from blisters and bruises.
1t was in this half-delirious state,
his head hanging lOw i1nOn hiS chest