had ever known it before in the open air, and they lay and fanned their
faces and fought the flies which were swarming around them.

When the sun rose, it showed a few little white clouds like puffs of
steam, low down in the northern sky, and hiding the distant Musgrave
Ranges from view. The sight of clouds is so unusual in Central
Australia that the boys remarked about it to one another, and were
amazed to see the difference which occurred in less than half an hour.
The clouds had indeed risen and increased greatly during that short
time. Instead of a few separate clouds, a big solid bank was now
spreading all over the horizon, and huge pillars of white were
stretching out from the main mass, far up into the sky.

Yarloo slept late, but when he woke up, he too stood and watched the
rising clouds. He evidently did not like the look of things, for he
shook his head, and, in reply to a question from Sax, replied:

"Me no like it. Me think it storm come up."

To the hot and thirsty white boys the word "storm" had only one
meaning, and they uttered it together: "Rain!"

Yarloo smiled. "Neh," he replied. "Rain no come up. Me think it
wind. P'raps sand. Me no like it." He set about building a little
fire for breakfast, and though his companions were not in the least bit
hungry, they followed his example and ate some damper and dried meat.
Each man was allowed half a quart-pot of tea. Sax and Vaughan drank
theirs with the meal, but Yarloo took a few sips and then put his
quart-pot away in a safe place.

There was nothing to do all morning. Yarloo again made a little
sun-shelter, but this became unnecessary after about ten o'clock,
because by that time the rising clouds had covered the face of the sun.
With every succeeding hour the oppressive heat seemed to get more and
more unbearable. There was not a breath of wind. It was as if a lot
of thick blankets were slowly smothering every living creature on the
earth. The clouds were no longer white, except at the front edges and
in places where a few great puffs bulged out. The rest was grey,
getting darker and darker till it was near the horizon, and then it
turned to brown. This brown looked like a huge curtain hung from the
sky and trailing over the earth. Now and again it was lit up by
flashes of lurid red, for all the world as if a furnace were roaring
behind that curtain.

The air was absolutely still, deathlike still, and a sound which was
exactly