nd held their thin cotton
robes ready to veil their faces should the storm come near.

It was a strange sight, the tall, pillar-like clouds sweeping along over
the level sand like so many parts of a vast machine preparing warp and
weft for spinning a garment to clothe the earth, and there were moments
when the pillars were so regular in distance and motion that it seemed
impossible not to believe that they were artificial.

All was still where the travellers stood and knelt, the sun pouring down
upon them from a clear sky, and as the Sheikh kept scanning the
approaching storm Frank watched him to try and read what he thought.

It was pretty plain, for the old man's eyes brightened and he seemed to
breathe more freely, since it was evident that if the whirlwind kept its
course the dust pillars would pass across the track they were making
half a mile away.

"But these storms change about so, Excellency," said the Sheikh. "This
may suddenly turn back or rush off right away from us. It will, I
think, go onward towards the great river away to our left, and sweep
across it. No!" he thundered out. "Be ready; it comes," for suddenly a
hot blast of air smote the party, fluttering their robes, and the
whirling pillars, so distinct and clear a few minutes before, grew misty
as if seen through a dense haze; for by one of its sudden changes the
storm had swept round almost at right-angles, and the next minute the
sky was obscured, the camels were groaning as they buried their heads in
the loose sand, and the storm of hot, suffocating dust, borne on a
mighty wind, was upon them, shrieking, tearing at everything loose, and
buffeting its victims, who could hardly breathe, the dust choking every
tiny crevice in the cotton cloth held over the face.

The roar and rush were horrible, the confusion of intellect strange and
peculiar, and Frank, as he cowered down behind his camel with his
forehead pressed against the saddle to keep his veil in its place, felt
as if he were breathing the scorching air out of some open furnace door,
while the choking, irritating sensation in the air-passages seemed as if
it must soon terminate in death.

Doubtless that would have been their fate if the storm had lasted; but
as quickly as it had come upon them it passed over, and in a few minutes
the air about them was clear again, the sky blue, and the sun beating
down, while the dust-cloud pillars were careering along, distinctly seen
a quarter of a