I woke up and became aware that some one was pouring water down mythroat. Heaven! I thought to myself, for at that time heaven and waterwere synonymous in my mind. I drank a good deal of it, not all I wantedby any means, but as much as the pourer would allow, then raised myselfupon my hands and looked. The starlight was extraordinarily clear inthat pure desert atmosphere, and by it I saw the face of SergeantQuick bending over me. Also, I saw Orme sitting up, staring about himstupidly, while a great yellow dog, with a head like a mastiff, lickedhis hand. I knew the dog at once; it was that which Orme had boughtfrom some wandering natives, and named Pharaoh because he ruled over allother dogs. Moreover, I knew the two camels that stood near by. So I wasstill on earth--unless, indeed we had all moved on a step.
"How did you find us, Sergeant?" I asked feebly.
"Didn't find you, Doctor," answered Quick, "dog Pharaoh found you. In abusiness like this a dog is more useful than man, for he can smellwhat one can't see. Now, if you feel better, Doctor, please look at Mr.Higgs, for I fear he's gone."
I looked, and, although I did not say so, was of the same opinion. Hisjaw had fallen, and he lay limp and senseless; his eyes I could not see,because of the black spectacles.
"Water," I said, and Quick poured some into his mouth, where itvanished.
Still he did not stir, so I opened his garments and felt his heart.At first I could detect nothing; then there was the slightest possibleflutter.
"There's hope," I said in answer to the questioning looks. "You don'thappen to have any brandy, do you?" I added.
"Never travelled without it yet, Doctor," replied Quick indignantly,producing a metal flask.
"Give him some," I said, and the Sergeant obeyed with liberality andalmost instantaneous effect, for Higgs sat up gasping and coughing.
"Brandy; filthy stuff; teetotaller! Cursed trick! Never forgive you.Water, water," he spluttered in a thick, low voice.
We gave it to him, and he drank copiously, until we would let him haveno more indeed. Then, by degrees, his senses came back to him. He thrustup his black spectacles which he had worn all this while, and stared atthe Sergeant with his sharp eyes.
"I understand," he said. "So we are not dead, after all, which perhapsis a pity after getting through the beastly preliminaries. What hashappened?"
"Don't quite know," answered Orme; "ask Quick."
But the Sergeant was already engaged in lighting a little fire andsetting a camp-kettle to boil, into which he poured a tin of beefextract that he had brought with other eatables from our stores on thechance that he might find us. In fifteen minutes we were drinking soup,for I forbade anything more solid as yet, and, oh! what a blessed mealwas that. When it was finished, Quick fetched some blankets from thecamels, which he threw over us.
"Lie down and sleep, gentlemen," he said; "Pharaoh and I will watch."
The last thing I remember was seeing the Sergeant, in his own fashion anextremely religious man, and not ashamed of it, kneeling upon thesand and apparently saying his prayers. As he explained afterwards,of course, as a fatalist, he knew well that whatever must happen wouldhappen, but still he considered it right and proper to return thanks tothe Power which had arranged that on this occasion the happenings shouldbe good, and not ill, a sentiment with which every one of us agreed.Opposite to him, with one of his faithful eyes fixed on Orme, satPharaoh in grave contemplation. Doubtless, being an Eastern dog, heunderstood the meaning of public prayer; or perhaps he thought that heshould receive some share of gratitude and thanks.
When we awoke the sun was already high, and to show us that we haddreamed no dream, there was Quick frying tinned bacon over the fire,while Pharaoh sat still and watched him--or the bacon.
"Look," said Orme to me, pointing to the mountains, "they are stillmiles away. It was madness to think that we could reach them."
I nodded, then turned to stare at Higgs, who was just waking up, for,indeed, he was a sight to see. His fiery red hair was full of sand, hisnether garments were gone, apparently at some stage in our march he haddispensed with the remains of them because they chafed his sore limbs,and his fair skin, not excluding that of his face, was a mass ofblisters, raised by the sun. In fact he was so disfigured that his worstenemy would not have known him. He yawned, stretched himself, always agood sign in man or beast, and asked for a bath.
"I am afraid you will have to wash yourself in sand here, sir, like themfilthy Arabians," said Quick, saluting. "No water to spare for baths inthis dry country. But I've got a tube of hazeline, also a hair-brush anda looking-glass," he added, producing these articles.
"Quite so, Sergeant," said Higgs, as he took them; "it's sacrilege tothink of using water to wash. I intend never to waste it in that wayagain." Then he looked at himself in the glass, and let it fall upon thesand, ejaculating, "Oh! good Lord, is that me?"
"Please be careful, sir," said the Sergeant sternly; "you told me theother day that it's unlucky to break a looking-glass; also I have noother."
"Take it away," said the Professor; "I don't want it any more, and,Doctor, come and oil my face, there's a good fellow; yes, and the restof me also, if there is enough hazeline."
So we treated each other with the ointment, which at first made us smartfearfully, and then, very gingerly sat down to breakfast.
"Now, Sergeant," said Orme, as he finished his fifth pannikin of tea,"tell us your story."
"There isn't much of a story, Captain. Those Zeu fellows came backwithout you, and, not knowing the lingo, I could make nothing of theirtale. Well, I soon made Shadrach and Co. understand that, death-wind orno death-wind--that's what they call it--they must come with me to lookfor you, and at last we started, although they said that I was mad,as you were dead already. Indeed, it wasn't until I asked that fellowShadrach if he wanted to be dead too"--and the Sergeant tapped hisrevolver grimly--"that he would let any one go.
"As it proved, he was right, for we couldn't find you, and after awhilethe camels refused to face the storm any longer; also one of the Abatidrivers was lost, and hasn't been heard of since. It was all the restof us could do to get back to the oasis alive, nor would Shadrach go outagain even after the storm had blown itself away. It was no use arguingwith the pig, so, as I did not want his blood upon my hands, I took twocamels and started with the dog Pharaoh for company.
"Now this was my thought, although I could not explain it to the Abaticrowd, that if you lived at all, you would almost certainly head forthe hills as I knew you had no compass, and you would not be able tosee anything else. So I rode along the plain which stretches between thedesert and the mountains, keeping on the edge of the sand-hills. I rodeall day, but when night came I halted, since I could see no more. ThereI sat in that great place, thinking, and after an hour or two I observedPharaoh prick his ears and look toward the west. So I also startedtoward the west, and presently I thought that I saw one faint streakof light which seemed to go upward, and therefore couldn't come from afalling star, but might have come from a rifle fired toward the sky.
"I listened, but no sound reached me, only presently, some secondsafterwards, the dog again pricked his ears as though _he_ heardsomething. That settled me, and I mounted and rode forward through thenight toward the place where I thought I had seen the flash. For twohours I rode, firing my revolver from time to time; then as no answercame, gave it up as a bad job, and stopped. But Pharaoh there wouldn'tstop. He began to whine and sniff and run forward, and at last boltedinto the darkness, out of which presently I heard him barking somehundreds of yards away, to call me, I suppose. So I followed and foundyou three gentlemen, dead, as I thought at first. That's all the story,Captain."
"One with a good end, anyway, Sergeant. We owe our lives to you."
"Beg your pardon, Captain," answered Quick modestly; "not to me at all,but to Providence first that arranged everything, before we were bornperhaps, and next to Pharaoh. He's a wise dog, Pharaoh, though fiercewith some, and you did a good deal when you bought him for a bottle ofwhisky and a sixpenn
y pocket-knife."
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