Dick in the Desert

Excerpt: ...sand. His distress rendered him reckless; and regardless Pg 42 of the future, he drank fully half the water in the canteen, bathing his eyes with a small quantity 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 Dick'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. Pg 43 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 Dick 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...