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- 



