A SINISTER LAND 85 



and narrower until they disappeared alto- 

 gether. 



Here Prince and I parted company for a 

 while; I dared not risk the possibility of injury 

 to those faithful feet that had carried me so 

 swiftly and so far. Even proceeding at a 

 walking pace in the Kanya, unless every step 

 were carefully picked, involved a risk of sprain 

 to ankle or fetlock. So I removed the saddle 

 and tied my companion to a bush — not be- 

 cause I feared his straying, but for the reason 

 that it was otherwise impossible to prevent his 

 following me. 



It was far hotter there among the Kanya 

 than outside, for the dark-hued stones ab- 

 sorbed heat and radiated it fiercely. The 

 desert's visage had taken on a sinister, forbid- 

 ding expression; almost as though it resented 

 intrusion — as though it had surrounded some 

 shrine of secret horror with flame-hot, laming 

 obstacles. 



The only vegetation consisted of a few 

 low, gnarled, bitter-looking shrubs. What an 

 apprenticeship to inimical conditions these 

 eremites of the vegetable world must have 

 undergone to enable them to save their scanty 

 leaves alive, — rooted, as they were, in a pinch 

 of brick-like soil lying in narrow spaces be- 



