40 LODGES IN THE WILDERNESS 



the earth, the more insistent becomes the idea 

 that one is surrounded by living beings, un- 

 human and unimaginable. 



Hark ! a sound of sinister import ; involun- 

 tarily one sprang to grasp the rifle standing 

 against the wagon-wheel. But an instant's re- 

 flection brought reassurance; it was but the 

 booming of an ostrich far out on the plains that 

 had conjured up scenes of other days, when 

 questing lions prowled around camp-fires, now 

 long since quenched. The most experienced 

 ear can hardly distinguish the distant voice of 

 a lion from that of an ostrich. Here, however, 

 we might rest unscathed by beasts of prey ; the 

 only possible danger was from cobras and 

 horned adders which, being unable to sustain 

 the heat of the earth's surface by day, remain 

 underground and emerge by night to practise 

 their respective trades. 



Sleep, sudden and imperative, would not be 

 denied; we had the arrears of two wakeful 

 nights to pay. Dune, desert and star, past, 

 present and future what were they? Where 

 were they? Whither was the awakening 

 night-wind bearing us? 



