126 
ALARM OF ENEMIES. 
Towards noon we halted ; the burning heat was aug- 
mented by a scorching wind from the east. My thirst was 
excessive, but I had no means of quenching it ; my com- 
panions told me, to comfort me, that we should soon come to 
wells. In fact^ the wells of Crames are in this part of the 
desert ; and we hoped to find water there ; but alas ! they 
were dry. These wells are situated near a chain of hills 
extending from N. N. W. towards south. At intervals, 
we came to a few tufts of herbage ; the only trace of vege- 
tation which is to be found here. 
We pitched our tents, and sheltered ourselves under 
them from the burning wind ; we had a very short al- 
lowance of water dealt out to us, on account of the im- 
possibility of procuring more. The soil in this part is 
composed of hard sand, mingled with gravel ; the east wind 
blew with such violence, that all our tents were overturned. 
About sunset, we had an alarm ; the camel-drivers at a 
distance from the camp, saw some Moors, whom they took 
for banditti ; they came to us, calling out, To arms ! to 
arms!" The whole camp was immediately on the alert ^ 
every one flew to arms, and hastened to meet the supposed 
enemy. I saw some of our party tremble, which made me 
presume that the danger was great. No person was left 
in the camp besides three or four old marabouts, the slaves 
and myself ; they fell forthwith to prayers, and gave me a 
little water and a piece of camel's flesh, I suppose to pro- 
pitiate Heaven. For my part, J was not less uneasy than 
the Moors ; I speculated sorrowfully upon what would be our 
lot, if we lost our camels, our only resource in the desert. 
We shall die in this horrid country, thought I, for we are too 
distant to receive help from any quarter ; and as a climax to 
misfortunes, our provision of water is exhausted. In fact, 
a few of the camels had returned, but the greater number 
were grazing out of the camp. In the course of an hour, 
I beheld, to my great satisfaction, our intrepid warriors re- 
