e me over that extensive
plain, on which, too, I knew that similar clumps existed. At length,
not seeing my friends, I decided to load my horse with a portion of the
antelope, and to try and find my way back to the camp. I had, as I
mentioned, suffered greatly from thirst before, but it did not equal the
pain I was now enduring. Not only did my mouth and throat feel dried
up, but my whole stomach; and faint and hungry as I was, though I had an
abundance of food with me, and might have collected grass and twigs
enough to cook a portion, yet I could not swallow a particle. I felt
growing weaker and weaker, and my head became so dizzy and my eyes so
dim that I could not distinguish objects clearly before me. I began to
fear that I had received a sunstroke, for the heat was greater than any
I had yet experienced. I knew the fatal effects which might follow.
Still, I managed to stick to my horse and ride on.

I had gone a considerable distance, and was trying to discover the
wished-for clump of trees, when my eyes fell on a glittering pool of
water, some way off to the left. I had not forgotten my experience when
before wandering in search of water; but I was convinced that I could
not be mistaken. By its side I saw several clumps of trees, and could
even distinguish their reflection on the calm surface of the lake. The
spectacle revived my spirits, and I urged on my horse, hoping soon to
quench my thirst, and put an end to the suffering I was enduring. He
too seemed equally eager to reach the lake. I was surprised that Donald
had not known of it, as he certainly would have moved there instead of
pushing on to the well, where he had doubts of finding water. I confess
that had any one told me that what I saw before me was not water, I
should have trusted my own senses rather than his assertion, and still
gone on towards it. Bitter, therefore, was my disappointment, when in a
short time I found myself standing on the margin of what I took to be a
lake, but which was merely a dry basin incrusted with saline particles,
which gave it, with the assistance of the existing mirage, thus exactly
the appearance of water. I turned away, suffering even more than before
from the fearful thirst which oppressed me. Still, I had been aroused,
and I hoped to be able to return to the camp before being quite
overcome. After going some distance, however, my spirits again sank,
and I could scarcely sit my horse. In another moment