NO WATER LEFT 
551 
creased ; they rolled over on their sides with legs out- 
stretched. Their blood coursed slower and slower, thicker 
and thicker, through their veins; the rigid torpors of death 
gradually stiffened their limbs. The pauses between their 
breathings became longer and longer, until at last the end 
came. In all probability Babai would die first, for he was 
the weaker. But how long did that death-struggle last? 
We shall never know. My blood curdled wdth horror, 
as the thought flashed across my mind, that perhaps they 
might live some days, and be buried alive by the sand- 
storms. Ah well ! they are now sleeping their century- 
long sleep under the moving billows of the remorseless 
and interminable desert. 
Later on in the afternoon we perceived that the western 
sky was full of thick steel-blue clouds, heavily charged 
with rain. They were the symbols of water and of life. 
We were surrounded by aridity and death. They widened 
out ; they drove closer together. The sight of them 
fairly fa.scinated us. We could not take our eyes off 
them. Our hopes of rain grew stronger from moment 
to moment. We set out two of the empty water- tanks. 
We spread out the tent-covering on the ground, with one 
man at each corner, ready to hold it up. We waited and 
waited. But the clouds slowly drew over to the south, 
vouchsafing us not a drop. 
Islam Bai baked bread for me for the last time. 
Mohammed Shah declared that we had fallen under the 
spell of telesmat, i.e. witchcraft, and should never find our 
way out of the desert. With superb calmness, as if stating 
a mere matter of course, Islam Bai remarked, that the 
camels would fall one after the other, and then it would be 
our turn. It was simply the inevitable course of events. I 
answered, I was convinced we should not die in the desert. 
Yollchi mocked at my compass — my kebleh-nameh (the 
shower of the direction to Mekka) — and swore it was it 
which was deceiving us, by leading us round in a circle. 
No matter how many days we travelled, he said, the result 
would be just the same. The best thing we could do was 
not to exert ourselves unnecessarily: we were bound to die 
