A STORM BREWING. 163 



food, was a problem the hunters were unable to 

 -solve. 



The heat continued intense. The previous night 

 had been most close and oppressive ; and even the 

 toil-worn hunters could not sleep for any continued 

 length of time without having recourse to the water 

 chogul. 



But as the day advanced, the breathless state of 

 the atmosphere, and the pile of clouds gathering 

 behind the hills, warned the experienced of the 

 party to make preparations to receive a storm of 

 rain or dust, perhaps both ; but in either case, most 

 certainly accompanied by a hurricane of wind. 



Not unfrequently have the lax, or lazy, or inex- 

 perienced, to rue the neglect of those precautions, 

 which should ever precede the arrival of the 

 expected storm. It is too late when once it has 

 burst. Tents blown down, poles smashed, stores 

 destroyed an 1 numerous other inconveniences may 

 result from a want of due preparation. Of course 

 no amount of foresight will at all times prove suffi- 

 cient to avoid those disasters ; but it is usually the 

 careless who suffer. 



The signs of the weather were not lost on the 

 hunters, who summoned all hands to make the 

 necessary preparations to enable them to meet, witli 

 the minimum of risk, one of those wild and angry, 



