heavily, fetlock deep, but could advance no further. With the first tint
of rose in the east the brooding storm burst upon them in wild desert
fury, the fierce wind buffeting them back, lashing their faces with sharp
grit until they were unable to bear the pain. The flying sand smote them
in clouds, driven with the speed of bullets. In vain they lay flat, urging
their ponies forward; the beasts, maddened and blinded by the merciless
lashing of the sand, refused to face the storm. Keith, all sense of
direction long since lost, rolled wearily from the saddle, burrowed under
the partial shelter of a sand dune, and called upon Neb to follow him.
With their hands and feet they made a slight wind-break, dragging the
struggling ponies into its protection, and burrowed themselves there, the
clouds of sand skurrying over them so thick as to obscure the sky, and
rapidly burying them altogether as though in a grave. Within an hour they
were compelled to dig themselves out, yet it proved partial escape from
the pitiless lashing. The wind howled like unloosed demons, and the air
grew cold, adding to the sting of the grit, when some sudden eddy hurled
it into their hiding place. To endeavor further travel would mean certain
death, for no one could have guided a course for a hundred feet through
the tempest, which seemed to suck the very breath away. To the fugitives
came this comfort--if they could not advance, then no one else could
follow, and the storm was completely blotting out their trail.

It was three o'clock before it died sufficiently down for them to venture
out. Even then the air remained full of sand, while constantly shifting
ridges made travel difficult. Only grim necessity--the suffering of the
ponies for water, and their own need for soon reaching the habitation of
man and acquiring food--drove them to the early venture. They must attain
the valley of the Salt Fork that night, or else perish in the desert--
there remained no other choice. Tying neckerchiefs over their horses'
eyes, and lying flat themselves, they succeeded in pressing slowly