We plunged into the desert; and as the enormous collection
of animals, extending as far as the eye could reach, held their
noiseless way, it seemed as if it were the passing by of shadows.
We met with no accident, notwithstanding the prophecies of the Maribout;
and, after a fatiguing march of seven nights, arrived safely at Nakhel,
where we replenished our exhausted water-skins. Those whom I knew joked
with me, when we met at the wells, at the false prophecies of my enemy.
We had now three days of severe fatigue to encounter before we arrived
at the castle of Akaba, and we recommenced our painful journey.
It was on the morning of the second day, about an hour after we had
pitched out tents, that the fatal prophecy of the Maribout, and the
judgment of Allah upon me, for the lie which I had called on him to
witness, was fulfilled.
A dark cloud appeared upon the horizon; it gradually increased, changing
to a bright yellow; then rose and rose until it had covered one-half of
the firmament, when it suddenly burst upon us in a hurricane which
carried every thing before it, cutting off mountains of sand at the
base, and hurling them upon our devoted heads. The splendid tent of the
Emir which first submitted to the blast, passed close to me, flying
along with the velocity of the herie, while every other was either
levelled to the ground or carried up into the air, and whirled about in
mad gyration.
Moving pillars of sand passed over us, overthrowing and suffocating man
and beast; the camels thrust their muzzles into the ground, and,
profiting by their instinct, we did the same, awaiting our fate in
silence and trepidation.
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