580 
THROUGH ASIA 
continual pain, and was seized with repeated vomitings 
of an extremely violent and convulsive character ; and, 
as his stomach was empty, they rapidly drained away what 
little strength he had left. Poor fellow' ! he suffered 
fearfully, writhed on the ground, and retched to such 
an extent that I thought he would bring up his very 
intestines. 
Thus like worms we crawled along through the darkness. 
But I saw clearly, we could not go on in that way, stumb- 
ling blindly over the dunes in that happy-go-lucky fashion. 
I got down off my camel, lighted a lantern, and went 
on ahead to find out the easiest passages between the 
gigantic billow's of the sandy ocean. 1 carried my com- 
pass in my hand, and steered due east. The lantern cast 
a faint glimmer along the steep dune-sides. But again 
and again I was obliged to stop and wait for the rest 
of the caravan. At about eleven o’clock I no longer 
heard the distant tinkle of the camel-bell — there was 
but one left now. The dense blackness of the night and 
a deathly silence environed me on every side. I put the 
lantern on the top of a dune, and lying down on the sand, 
tried to sleep. But not a wink could 1 get. I sat up and 
listened, holding my breath, hoping I might hear some 
faint far-off sound. I looked eagerly towards the east, 
to see if I could not catch a glimpse of a shepherd’s fire, 
marking the forest beside the Khotan-daria. But no ; 
there was no such beacon of hope. All was dark, silent 
as the grave. Nothing — nothing at all betrayed the least 
semblance of life. It was so still I could plainly hear my 
own heart beating. 
At length I caught the sound of the last of the camels’ 
bells. It sounded at longer and longer intervals ; but it 
approached gradually nearer. When they reached the 
top of the dune on which I sat, Islam Bai staggered 
up to the lantern, fell heavily to the ground, and gasped 
out, that he could not take another step. His strength 
was totally exhausted. 
Seeing that the last act of our tragic desert journey was 
now about to be played, and that all would soon be over. 
