Dick in the Desert Part 5

At the end of the next hour he said to himself that he must be nearly midway on the road of sand; and although the labor of walking was most severe, his heart was very light.

"Once across, I'll push on as fast as any fellow can walk," he said aloud, as if the sound of his own voice gave him cheer. "By making an extra effort I ought to be in Antelope Spring before midnight, and have plenty of time to sleep between now and morning. Half a day there to sell the rifle, an' buy what is needed, an' by sunset I should be at the edge of the desert again, ready to make this part of the tramp after dark."

He walked quickly, and like one who intends to go but a short distance.

The forty-five-mile tramp seemed to him but a trifle as compared with what was to be gained by the making of it.

He thought of his mother as she read the note he had left on the flap of the wagon-covering, and wondered if she looked upon his departure as an act of disobedience, which, in fact, it was, since both his parents had insisted he should not attempt it.

Then his thoughts went out to his father, and he told over in his mind all the questions he would ask of the doctor at Antelope Spring; for he had no doubt but that he should find one of that profession there.

He took little heed to the monotonous view around him, until suddenly he saw in the distance what appeared to be a low-hanging cloud; then he said to himself that if a shower should spring up the sun's face would be covered, and the heat, which was now very great, must be lessened.

As this cloud advanced, descending to the sands while it rose toward the heavens, it grew more black; and on either side were long columns of seeming vapor rising, and as rapidly disappearing.

Then across the darkness on that portion of the horizon something bright moved swiftly, as if a flash of lightning had pa.s.sed over the face of the cloud; and in an instant the sun and the sky were shut out from view.

Now the clouds took on the appearance of a dense black fog, coming up from the southward over the desert, until d.i.c.k was seemingly looking at a gigantic wall, over the face of which shone now and then bright flashes of light.

There was a shrieking and moaning in the air, so it seemed to the startled boy; and he failed to understand the meaning of this strange scene, until, the impenetrable wall having come so near, he could see that what appeared like flashes of light were gigantic columns of sand springing high in the air with fantastic shapes, and glinted by the sun from above the apparent vapor, until they were swallowed up in the enormous bank of cloud behind them.

Then it was d.i.c.k knew the meaning of this terrible danger which threatened him.

It was a storm of sand. "Dancing giants" some have termed it, and others speak of it as the "hot blizzard."

As if in an instant the dancing, swirling columns and the rus.h.i.+ng cloud of sand, which swayed to and fro in fantastic movements, surrounded him.

He was in the centre of a cyclone freighted with particles of sand.

The wind roared until one might have believed he heard the crash of thunder.

d.i.c.k halted, terrified, bewildered; and as he came to a standstill, it seemed to him that the clouds on every hand lowered until he could see the blue sky above. Then with a shriek from the wind the very sand beneath his feet rose and fell like billows of the sea.

The tempest was upon him.

He s.h.i.+elded his eyes with his arm; but the stinging, heated particles sought out every inch of his body, and his clothing afforded but little protection.

The sand penetrated his ears and nostrils, and burned his lips until they bled.

He had heard it said that to remain motionless in such a tempest means death; for wherever the wind meets with an obstruction, there it piles the sand in huge mounds, and his father had told of more than one hunter who had thus been buried alive.

It was death to remain motionless, and yet to move seemed impossible.

Whether he turned to the right or the left the whirlwind struck him with a fury which it was difficult to withstand. It was as if the wind swept in upon him from every point of the compa.s.s--as if he was the centre of this whirling, dancing, blinding, murderous onrush of sand.

The boy's throat was dry. He was burning with thirst.

The dust-laden air seemed to have literally filled his lungs, and it was with difficulty he could breathe.

Despite the protection he sought to give, his eyes were inflamed, and the lids cruelly swollen.

He sank ankle-deep at every step, and above him and around him the wild blasts shrieked, until there were times when he feared lest he should be thrown from his feet.

Pulling his hat down over his aching eyes, the bewildered, terrified boy tried to gain some relief from the thirst which a.s.sailed him.

He understood that the contents of his canteen must be guarded jealously; for if he lived there were still several miles of the desert journey to be traversed, and the walking would be even more difficult than before the storm set in, because of the s.h.i.+fting sand.

His distress rendered him reckless; and regardless of the future, he drank fully half the water in the canteen, bathing his eyes with a small quant.i.ty poured in the hollow of his hand.

It would have been better if he had not tried to find relief by this last method, for the flying particles of sand adhered to such portions of his face as were wet, forming a coating over the skin almost instantly.

He attempted to brush it off, and the gritty substance cut into his flesh as if he had rubbed it with emery-paper.

Then came into d.i.c.k's mind the thought that he should never more see his parents on this earth, and for the instant his courage so far deserted him that he was on the point of flinging himself face downward upon the sand.

Fortunately there appeared before his mental vision a picture of his father lying in the wagon with the certainty that death would come unless his son could bring relief, and this nerved the boy to yet greater exertion.

With his arms over his face, he pushed forward once more, not knowing whether he might be retracing his steps, or proceeding in the proper direction.

Every inch of advance was made against the fierce wind and drifting sand which nearly overthrew him.

Every breath he drew was choked with dust.

How long he thus literally fought against the elements it was impossible for him so much as to conjecture.

He knew his strength was spending rapidly; and when it seemed as if he could not take another step, he stumbled, and fell against a mound of sand.

It had been built by the "dancing giants" when some obstruction had been found in the path of the storm; and as d.i.c.k fell prostrate at the foot of this slight elevation, there instantly came a sense of deepest relief.

The sand was no longer thrown against him by the blast; the wind had ceased to buffet him; he was in comparative quiet, and for an instant he failed to understand the reason.

Then he realized that this mound, which had thrown him from his feet, was affording a shelter against the tempest, which was now coming from one direction instead of in a circle as heretofore; and a fervent prayer of thanksgiving went up from his heart, for he believed his life had been saved that he might aid his father.

After recovering in a measure from the exhaustion consequent upon his battle with the elements, he proceeded with infinite care to brush the particles of sand from his face; and this done, his relief was yet greater.

Overhead the air was full of darkness; the wind still screamed as it whirled aloft the spiral columns of dust; the wave-like drift of the sand surged on either side; but for the moment he was safe.

He had been told that such tempests were of but short duration, and yet it seemed to him as if already half a day had been spent in this fight for life.

Then he said to himself that he could remain where he was in safety until the wind had subsided; but even as the words were formed in his mind he was conscious of a weight upon his limbs as if something was bearing him down, and for the first time he realized that he was being rapidly buried alive.

To remain where he was ten minutes longer must be fatal; and perhaps even that length of time would not be allowed him, for if the wind so s.h.i.+fted as to cut off the top of the mound, then he would be overwhelmed as if in a landslide.

There was nothing for it but to go into the conflict once more; and in this second effort the odds would be still greater against him, because his courage was lessened.

He knew the danger which menaced, and the suffering he would have to endure the instant he rose from behind the poor shelter; yet it was necessary, and the boy staggered to his feet.

There was nothing to guide him in the right direction, for all around was blackness and flying grit; yet he believed his way lay directly in the teeth of the storm, and because of such belief pressed onward, resolving that he would continue as long as was possible.