THE CRISIS COMES 
583 
I determined to give up everything, and hasten on east- 
wards as far as my strength would carry me. In a 
scarcely audible voice Islam whispered, that he could not 
go with me. He begged to be allowed to remain with the 
camels, and said he would die where he lay. I encouraged 
him, telling him, I was sure his strength would return after 
he had rested an hour or two in the cool night-air ; and 
when it did, I solemnly commanded him to leave the camels 
and their loads- — everything — and follow on in my foot- 
steps. To this he made no answer, but lay on his back, 
with his mouth and eyes wide open. Then I bade him 
farewell, and left him, fully believing that he had but a 
short time to live. 
Kasim was still fairly brisk. Like me, he had had the 
good sense to abstain from the abominable draught at 
the Camp of Death. The only things I took with me 
were the tw'o chronometers, a bell, the compass, a pen- 
knife, a pencil, and a piece of paper, a box of matches, 
a pocket-handkerchief, a box of tinned lobsters, a round 
tin box full of chocolate, and, more by accident than 
by design, half a score of cigarettes. Kasim carried 
the spade, bucket, and rope, in case we should have 
to dig a well. Inside the bucket he put the sheep’s 
fat tail, two or three pieces of bread, and a lump of 
coagulated sheep’s blood. But in the hurry he forgot 
to take his cap, and when morning came, had to borrow 
my handkerchief, which he wound round his head, to 
protect himself against sunstroke. 
But we were unable to derive much advantage from 
our wretched provisions, because our throats and their 
mucous membranes were parched up, as dry as the skin 
on our hands and faces, so that it was impossible to 
swallow. If we tried to get anything down, it stuck 
fast in our throats. We felt as if we were being 
suffocated and made haste to put it out. But a man 
who is tormented by the agonies of thirst gradually 
loses all sense of hunger. For the first few days the 
tortures of thirst are so poignant that you are on the 
brink of losing your senses. But when your skin ceases 
