coming!"

Coming, it was indeed, with a mighty, wailing roar. Scarcely had we got
ourselves into position, our backs to the blast and our mouths and
noses buried after the fashion of camels in a similar predicament, the
lion-skin covering our heads and bodies to the middle, with the paws
tucked securely beneath us to prevent it from being blown away, when the
storm leaped upon us furiously, bringing darkness in its train. There
we lay for hour after hour, unable to see, unable to talk because of the
roaring noise about us, and only from time to time lifting ourselves
a little upon our hands and knees to disturb the weight of sand that
accumulated on our bodies, lest it should encase us in a living tomb.

Dreadful were the miseries we suffered--the misery of the heat beneath
the stinking pelt of the lion, the misery of the dust-laden air that
choked us almost to suffocation, the misery of thirst, for we could not
get at our scanty supply of water to drink. But worst of all perhaps,
was the pain caused by the continual friction of the sharp sand driven
along at hurricane speed, which, incredible as it may seem, finally wore
holes in our thin clothing and filed our skins to rawness.

"No wonder the Egyptian monuments get such a beautiful shine on them," I
heard poor Higgs muttering in my ear again and again, for he was growing
light-headed; "no wonder, no wonder! My shin-bones will be very useful
to polish Quick's tall riding-boots. Oh! curse the lions. Why did you
help me to salt, you old ass; why did you help me to salt? It's pickling
me behind."

Then he became quite incoherent, and only groaned from time to time.