King Solomon's Treasure

Chapter 8 Into the Desert (2)
The next day, we slept through until the sun went down.After getting up, I ate a hearty meal of fresh beef and drank some tea. Finally, Goode said with some sentimentality that we did not know how much water we drank.Making final preparations, we lay down again and waited for the moon to rise.At around nine o'clock, the moon finally rose, the sky was full of stars, and the bright moonlight filled the earth. The endless desert seemed to be covered with a silver coat, which looked solemn, quiet, and somewhat mysterious.We got up and it was packed in a few minutes.It is human nature to hesitate before taking a step of no return.The three of us white men stood together, and Ambopa held a spear in his hand and a rifle on his shoulder. He stood not far in front, and his eyes were fixed on the desert.Three hired natives with water hyacinths on their backs followed us, along with Wittruegl.

"Gentlemen," said Sir Henry in his characteristic deep voice, "we are about to set off. It will be a strange journey like never before. There are many uncertainties ahead, and no one knows whether it will be successful. But whether it is Fu It is a disaster, we must all be united and persevere to the end. Before we set off, let us pray to the God who controls our destiny, and may God show us the direction."

He took off his hat, covered his face with his hands, and prayed silently for about a minute.Goode and I followed his example and prayed to God.

In fact, very few hunters are devout believers, and I have never heard Sir Henry pray before.But at this moment, I believe his prayer is from the heart.As for Gude, although he usually curses at every turn, he also has a pious heart.I am also devout like never before, and for some reason, I still feel a little happy in my heart.The road ahead is long and unpredictable.The more confused and fearful the future, the more people believe in God.

"Go now!" said Sir Henry.

We're on our way.

We have nothing to refer to but Sulimon Mountain in the distance, and the map left by old Joss da Thwest.What's more, that map was drawn by a delirious man on his deathbed 300 years ago. How reliable it is, no one can say, but it is our only hope of success.According to the marks on the map, there is a stinky pond in the center of the desert about [-] miles away from the starting point, and the stinky pond is also about [-] miles away from Sulimen Mountain.If we can't find this stinky pond, we will surely die of thirst.However, in the vast desert full of bushes, the possibility of finding a small smelly pond is very slim.Even if Svester's markings were correct, after hundreds of years, the stinking pool may have dried up, trampled by animals, or buried by quicksand.

In the darkness of night, we walked quietly on the thick sandy soil, stumbling over bushes from time to time, slowing down our progress.Sand was always getting into the boots too, so every few miles we had to stop and dump the sand out of the boots.Fortunately, although the air was dull, it was quite cool, and we walked quickly.The vast desert is very quiet and lonely, which makes people feel very depressing.Good also noticed it, and whistled. It was a tune called "The Girl I Abandoned".But the sound echoed in the empty desert, and it seemed a bit bleak, so he stopped blowing.

After a while, a small accident happened.We were all intimidated at first, but soon couldn't stop laughing.Goode had been a sailor, so he was naturally familiar with the compass, so he took the compass and walked ahead to lead the way, and the others followed him in a line.Suddenly there was a scream, and Gude disappeared.Then there was noise, snorting, moaning, and chaotic footsteps all around.With the faint moonlight, we vaguely saw a black shadow flash past behind the sand dunes.The locals were so frightened that they dropped their things and ran away, but found that there was nowhere to escape, so they all lay on the ground and yelled "there is a ghost".Sir Henry and I stood there in amazement.I saw Good riding on the horse, rushing towards Sulimen Mountain, yelling like crazy.Sir Henry and I were greatly astonished.Immediately after Goode raised his arms and fell to the ground with a bang, I finally understood what was going on: it turned out that we had just encountered a group of sleeping quagga, and Goode, who was walking in the front, stumbled on the ground. On the back of one of them, the awakened quagga naturally stood up and ran away carrying him.I yelled "It's okay" to the others and ran towards Goode, fearing he might get hurt.He was sitting on the sand, trembling with fright, but safe and sound, even his glasses were still firmly on his eyes.I finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Since then, no other accidents have occurred.At about one o'clock, we stopped to drink some water, not daring to drink more, water is too precious in the desert.After resting for half an hour, we went on the road again.

Let's move on.A blush appeared in the east, like the blush on a young girl's cheeks, and then a few light yellow shimmers appeared, and after a while, the light yellow turned into golden yellow.The stars gradually dimmed and finally disappeared into the sky.The golden moonlight gradually turned white, and the outline of the mountains became more and more clear, like the bony bones on the face of a dying person.Then the bright sun in the distance passed through the vast desert, and the morning fog dissipated.The whole desert seems to be covered with a golden coat.A new day begins.

Although it was tempting to stop and rest, we kept going because we knew that once the sun was fully up the desert would become so hot that it would be impossible to walk.About six o'clock we found a pile of rocks on the level ground and headed towards it.Fortunately, there was a large overhanging slab of sand with flat sand below, just to avoid the scorching sun.We got under the big stone slab, drank some water, ate some jerky, and soon fell asleep.

Sleep until three o'clock in the afternoon.The three porters began to pack their things, ready to go back.They have already walked a long way with us, no matter how many hunting knives are given to them, they are not willing to go one step further.So we drank the water in the jug, poured the water from their water hyacinths into the jug, and watched them go home.

At 04:30 we moved on.The vast desert is extremely desolate, except for ostriches, no other creatures can be seen.Apparently the desert was too dry for animals, and apart from the occasional horrible cobra or two, no reptiles were seen.But there are a lot of flies.As the "Old Testament" said: "Not alone, but in groups".Flies are really a very special animal, no matter where you go, you can see them.I once saw a fly in amber. It is said that it has been 50 years old and looks exactly like today's flies.I have no doubt that when the last man on earth is dying, as long as it is summer, there will be a swarm of flies buzzing around him, looking for an opportunity to settle on the tip of his nose.

At sunset we stopped to rest and wait for the moon to rise.At ten o'clock, the moon rose into the sky, as beautiful and peaceful as usual.Except for a stop to rest at about two o'clock in the morning, we dragged our tired bodies and kept on driving throughout the night until the sun rose.Exhausted, we drank some water, fell to the ground, and soon fell asleep.In this endless and uninhabited place, there is nothing to worry about, let alone keep people on guard.Our enemies are heat, thirst and flies.In fact, I would rather face the threat from man or beast, because these three enemies are more terrible than any man or beast.This time we were not so lucky, there were no rocks to block the sun.We slept until about seven o'clock, and we woke up to experience the taste of a steak on the grill, and the whole body was cooked through.The fiery sun has almost sucked our blood dry.We sat up, panting from the heat.

"Bah!" I spat, reaching out to catch the flies buzzing overhead.The heat seems to have no effect on them.

"Alas!" said Sir Henry too.

"It's hot!" Goode said.

It was really hot and there was no shade at all.Looking around, there are no rocks, no trees, nothing but endless glare of the sun.The heat wave in the desert is churning, like a huge oven, making people dizzy with heat.

"What shall we do?" asked Sir Henry. "We cannot last long at this rate."

Everyone, you look at me, and I look at you, with blank faces.

"I've got an idea," said Goode, "we'll dig a hole in it and cover it with bushes."

Although this idea is not brilliant, but I can't think of a better way for a while.So we set to work, digging with shovels, and scraping with our hands, for more than an hour, until at last we dug a hole about ten feet long, twelve feet wide, and two feet deep.We cut down a lot of low shrubs with hunting knives, then drilled into the holes and covered them with shrub branches.The only exception was Wittruegl, a Hottentot, for whom the sun was nothing.Although the sun can be slightly blocked, several people hid in a temporary pit dug. One can imagine the sweltering feeling, not even the "black hole" in Calcutta.At the time, I really didn't know if I would make it through the day.We lay in the pit, gasping for breath, moistening our chapped lips from time to time with what little water we had left.If you let your temper go, I'm afraid the water will be drunk in less than two hours.So we had to grit our teeth and dare not drink more than one sip.Everyone knows very well that once the water is gone, death is not far away.

However, as long as you persevere, the hardships will always end.Just keep going until the evening, and the horrible day is over.About three o'clock in the afternoon we decided we could take it no longer.Even dying on the move is better than dying of heat and thirst in a dreadful pit.We drank some water, which was baked to almost body temperature.After drinking the water we went on the road again.

We walked about fifty miles.The reader will know from old Darth West's map that the diameter of the desert is forty leagues, and the stinking pool is in the center of the desert.Forty leagues equals 120 miles.If the stinking pool really existed, we were at most twelve to fifteen miles away from it.

All afternoon we walked slowly and arduously, not a mile in half an hour.Stopped again at sunset, waiting for the moon to rise.We drank some water and planned to sleep for a while.

Before we lay down, Ambopa pointed to a looming hill some eight miles away.From such a distance, it looks like an anthill.As I fell asleep, I kept wondering what the hell it was.

The moon has risen, and we continue to move forward.Everyone was exhausted, their mouths were parched, and their skin was burning with tingling pain.People who have not personally experienced it cannot understand this extremely uncomfortable taste.We couldn't walk anymore, our legs were shaking, and we fell to the ground from time to time due to lack of energy. We had to stop and rest for a while after walking for an hour.Everyone was so tired that they didn't even have the strength to speak.Along the way, Goode, who is lively by nature, always likes to chat and joke, but now he can't even tell a joke.

About two o'clock we came at last to the foot of the strange hill, which at first glance looked like a gigantic ant-hill, fully a hundred feet high, and about two acres in area.At this time, everyone's physical strength and willpower have reached their limits.

We rested for a while, we were too thirsty.We were so thirsty that we could drink a gallon of water in one breath, but we only had half a pint of water each.This time, the last bit of water was drunk
Then we lay down.As I was about to fall asleep, I heard Ambopa saying to himself in Zulu, "If we don't find water before the moon rises tomorrow, we'll all die of thirst."

After hearing this, although the weather was hot, I couldn't help shivering.Facing the imminent death, everyone will feel heavy.But despite the pain in my heart, exhausted, I fell asleep.

(End of this chapter)