42 LODGES IN THE WILDERNESS 



up the steep slope of loose sand and met us, 

 face to face. The creature regarded us with 

 quaint bewilderment for a second, and then 

 scampered back with a yelp of dismay. 



So far as we could ascertain the plain before 

 us was empty of game. Gloom, intensified by 

 contrast with the developing pageant of morn- 

 ing, still lurked among the shrubs and tussocks. 

 In front, some six hundred yards away, lay 

 another dune tentacle. This did not, however, 

 extend in quite the same direction as the one 

 we occupied, its course being a few degrees 

 more to the southward for the greater length, 

 while the extremity curved slightly back to- 

 wards us. The intervening space was soon 

 crossed. Once more we clambered up through 

 loose sand that flowed at a touch ; then we lay 

 prone on the flat top, searching with expectant 

 eyes the new expanse revealed. 



The light had now improved; a limitless 

 plain opened to south and east. Northward, 

 the wind-scourged side of the main dune ex- 

 tended like a sea-worn cliff. The faint, 

 diaphanous suspicion of haze incidental to new- 

 born day, which lay film-wise over the yet-unawa- 

 kened desert, did not interfere with our vision. 



A twenty-foot elevation gives the eye an 

 immense range. Game was now in sight; five 



