ough which the storm
had raged.

At no great distance from me, and, as I judged, in the direction of the
spot at which the storm had overtaken me, a gigantic dune lay piled
high above the others. This was some of the devilish work of the past
night, for it had not been there yesterday!

There appeared no likelihood of a return of the storm; and, full of
anxiety and distress, I made my way to this newly-formed dune, which
apparently covered the exact spot of our camp of overnight; but now no
vestige of bush remained in sight anywhere: it was all buried fathoms
deep in sand. And gone too were many of our belongings, for with the
exception of the one pack-saddle, to which one of the water-skins was
providentially made fast, I had had no time to pick up anything; and
now the half of our precious water, and much of our stores and
ammunition, were covered by the thousands of tons of the gigantic dune.
Search as I could, in all directions, I could find no trace of them,
they had gone irretrievably; and gaze as I could from the highest point
of the new dune I could see no sign of life, and the sad conviction was
forced upon me that Inyati had perished, and that I was alone.

CHAPTER IV

THE PANS AND THE POISON FLOWERS

By this time the sun was high in the heavens, and I realized that if I
would make a bid for life I must do it soon. Buffeted and almost choked
with the battle of the past night, I was parched with thirst, and had
perforce to encroach upon the scanty store left to me a bare quart at
the outside; barely sufficient to keep life in me another day in the
terrible heat. The horses, too, were suffering and would scarcely last
that time, and I was now faced with the terrible problem as to whether
I should attempt to return or to penetrate farther into the desert. To
return would be difficult, for the storm had passed that way and all
our spoors would be obliterated; moreover, we had gone out of our path
so far when following the fire that I was by no means certain as to the
absolute direction. Moreover, a glance that way showed me heavy, dun-
colored clouds on the far horizon: there the storm was raging still,
and I shuddered to think of what my fate might be in the loose bare
dunes we had passed through with such difficulty. Besides, though
Inyati's awful fate appeared but too certain, I felt impelled to follow
the direction he had gone for there might, after all, be a faint hope
that he had lived thr