THE CAMELS BREAK DOWN 543 
We were all standing in a ring round the gaping 
hole we had made in the ground, talking about it, and 
watching Kasim, who, half naked as he was, looked 
strange and eerie in the dimly lighted cavity at our feet, 
when all at once he stopped, letting the spade drop out of 
his hands. Then, with a half-smothered groan, he fell 
to the ground. 
“What is the matter? what has happened ?” we asked, 
one and all stupefied with amazement. 
" Ku 7 'rtik kimi !” (The sand is dry\') came a voice as if 
from the grave. 
A couple of spade-strokes convinced me that the man 
was right : the sand had become as dry as tinder. The 
deceptive moisture was possibly due to a fall of snow 
during the winter, or to a shower of rain. But we did 
not know that ; and the sand-dunes do not betray their 
secrets. We got down as far as 10^ feet ; and there the 
temperature was 52°2 Fahr. (ii°2 C.). 
This unwelcome discovery made, we became instantly 
conscious of our weariness, and realized how much of our 
precious strength we had wasted during the three hours 
we had toiled in vain. We literally collapsed, became 
unnerved, lost all our energy, A deep and bitter gloom 
darkened every face. We shunned one another’s glances. 
We staggered away each to his sleeping-place, seeking 
oblivion of our despair in a long and heavy sleep. Before 
I lay down, 1 had a private conversation with Islam Bai. 
We did not conceal our apprehensions from one another. 
We recognized the e.xtreme gravity of our position, and 
pledged each other to keep up our own and the other 
men’s courage to the utmost extremity. According to my 
maps, we could not be very far from the Khotan-daria ; 
nevertheless it was as well to be prepared for the worst. 
Before lying down, I took the opportunity of the other 
men being asleep to examine the contents of the last of the 
tanks. It contained sufficient water to last one day. We 
should have to watch over it as if it were gold. In fact, 
if we could have bought one more day’s supply of water 
with all the money we had, we should not have hesitated 
