he Arabs, and therefore should have felt no
apprehensions had any appeared. As far as my eye could reach, however,
with the aid of my spy-glass, wide plains of arid sand, and sand-hills
rising one beyond the other, were alone visible. It was a region in
which it appeared impossible that human beings could exist. At last I
shut up the glass, believing that we were not likely to be molested, and
that we must depend on our own exertions for support. My mouth and
throat were becoming dreadfully parched, and I would have given
everything I possessed for a drop of pure water; but, from the
appearance of the country, I now began to despair of finding any.

We had gone on for some miles, it seemed to me, when I heard Halliday
give a shout, and turning my head I saw Boxall waving his stave. I
hurried after Halliday, who was making towards him. There was a slight
depression in the ground, with a little verdure. Boxall had already
begun digging, and we all joined with an ardour inspired by the parched
state of our tongues. We exchanged but few words; indeed, we could
speak but with difficulty. The staves served very well the purpose of
shovels; and remembering that by perseverance we had before reached
water, we dug on and on, believing that our labour would not be in vain.

We had got down fully four feet, and yet no water appeared. "Dig away,"
cried Boxall; "even if we have to go two or three feet deeper, we need
not despair."

At last our efforts were rewarded by the appearance of moisture, and
after we had thrown out more of the sand a whitish fluid flowed into the
hole. On tasting it we found that it was drinkable, though somewhat
bitter and brackish.

"I have no doubt that it is wholesome, as the water which the Arabs dig
for in their journeys is described in the books I have read as exactly
like this," observed Boxall.

So thirsty were we that we did not allow it to settle, when it would
probably have become more limpid. But we all felt greatly refreshed,
and thankful that we had not been thrown on this desert region to perish
with thirst.

Fatigued with our previous walk, we now sat down to rest. I turned my
eyes in the direction of the reef,--which, however, was not visible,--
and saw Ben looking in the same quarter.

"I wonder if we could repair the raft, and make our way to one of the
settlements to the southward," I said. "We might land if we saw bad
weather coming on; and we should not, at all ev