the oasis without our
guidance. Although it was night, the heat was intense; our throats were
dry, our lips were parched, and we were experiencing all the terrible
sensations of intolerable thirst. We had kept the remnant of the water
for a last resource, in case we should not reach the fountain.

I think that for nearly another hour we had ridden on, my father not
having spoken a word all that time, when to my horror, without any
warning, he fell heavily from his horse. His hands had let go the
reins, and the animal, relieved of his burden, set off towards the
oasis. I threw myself from my horse. To lift him up and to pour some
water down his throat was the work of a moment. It instantly restored
him to consciousness. He appeared to have suffered no injury from his
fall. While I was thus engaged, my horse escaped from me and set off
after his companion. So engrossed, however, was I in tending my father,
that I scarcely noticed the occurrence. It was, of course, utterly
hopeless to attempt to recover the animals, and thus were we two left in
the middle of the desert without a prospect of escaping.

O the horrors of that night! They can never be obliterated from my
memory. At first I thought of attempting to reach the oasis by walking;
but my father, though having sufficient strength to sit up, and, had he
not lost his horse, to ride, felt himself utterly unable to accomplish
the distance on foot. I had bitterly, indeed, to regret my momentary
carelessness in allowing my horse to escape from me. It might have been
the cause of my father's and my destruction. I have often since
thought, from being for one instant only off our guard, how much misery
and ruin may occur--how much wickedness and suffering may be the result!

The air was still very sultry, and even the sand, on which we rested,
was very hot. Our last drop of water was consumed. My father did not
know it, but I had given it to him. I had begun to suffer dreadfully
from thirst. My throat seemed lined with a coating like the face of a
file, and my lips were hard and cracked; while the skin, from the drying
effects of the sun, the wind, and the sand, was peeling off my face. My
father did not feel so much pain as I did; but my strength, I fancied,
had in no way failed me, and I thought that, if I had kept my horse, I
could easily have walked by his side till we reached the fountain we
expected to find. We sat for some time without speaking.