g away the
sand, should reveal their skeletons.

Stas' head swam, his lungs seemed choked, and the sand blinded him. But
at times it seemed to him that he heard Nell crying and calling; so he
thought only of her. Taking advantage of the fact that the camels stood
in a close pack and that Idris might not observe him, he determined to
creep over quietly to the girl's camel, not for the purpose of
escaping, but to give her assistance and encouragement. But he had
barely extended his limbs from under him and stretched out his hands to
grasp the edge of Nell's saddle, when the giant hand of Idris grabbed
him. The Sudanese snatched him like a feather, laid him before him and
began to tie him with a palm rope, and after binding his hands, placed
him across the saddle. Stas pressed his teeth and resisted as well as
he could, but in vain. Having a parched throat and a mouth filled with
sand he could not convince Idris that he desired only to go to the
girl's assistance and did not want to escape.

After a while, however, feeling that he was suffocating, he began to
shout in a stifled voice:

"Save the little 'bint'! Save the little 'bint'!"

But the Arabs preferred to think of their own lives. The blasts became
so terrible that they could not sit on the camels nor could the camels
stand in their places. The two Bedouins with Chamis and Gebhr leaped to
the ground, in order to hold the animals by cords attached to the
mouthpieces under their lower jaws. Idris, shoving Stas to the rear of
the saddle, did the same. The animals spread out their legs as widely
as possible in order to resist the furious whirlwind, but they lacked
strength, and the caravan, scourged by gravel which cut like hundreds
of whips and the sand which pricked like pins, began now slowly, then
hurriedly, to turn about and retreat under the pressure. At times the
whirlwind tore holes under their feet, then again the sand and gravel
bounding from the sides of the camels would form, in the twinkling of
an eye, mounds reaching to their knees and higher. In this manner hour
passed after hour. The danger became more and more terrible. Idris
finally understood that the only salvation was to remount the camels
and fly with the whirlwind. But this would be returning in the
direction of Fayum, where Egyptian Courts and the gallows were waiting
for them.

"Ha! it cannot be helped," thought Idris. "The hurricane will also stop
the pursuit and when it ceases, we will a