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Page 38
"Backbone of the storm is broken," yelled the guide in Hippy's
ear, both being under the same blanket.
"So is mine," Hippy howled back. "There's a ton of sand, if there
is a pound on it, this very minute. Hope the girls are safe. Can
we get out?"
"No. The wind is too strong. It will die out in a few moments.
I'll go out the minute I can crawl."
The men waited several minutes, during which the gale was steadily
decreasing. The guide finally poked his head from under the
blanket, shading his eyes with a hand to keep the blowing sand
out, before opening them.
"Cover your eyes and come on," he said, crawling out and starting
to beat his way against the gale toward the spot where the
Overland girls were supposed to be.
They were huddled together, with their arms about each other to
keep from being blown away, every head resting on an arm as they
lay face down on the ground.
"Stand up, but protect your eyes," shouted Hi. "Gale's almost over
and done for."
"So--o--o are we," gasped Grace, staggering to her feet, and
almost instantly landing on her back on the ground where the wind
had hurled her.
Hi assisted her to her feet, Grace laughing and choking at the
same time. The others, in turn, were lifted up by Hi and Hippy,
all leaning against the wind, clinging to each other, and, with
handkerchiefs in their mouths, breathing what air they could get
in this way without taking in any more sand than they could help.
The wind stopped with a suddenness that left every one of the
party unprepared. The result was that they fell forward on their
faces, and for a few moments there was a mixup that, in ordinary
circumstances, would have brought merry peals of laughter, but
there was no laughter this time.
The eyes of the Overland Riders were so filled with sand that they
were too blinded to see the stars that once more were shining
"just above them."
"Wet your handkerchiefs with water from your canteens and wipe
your eyes," suggested Grace.
"Go easy on the water," commanded the guide. "Let's see where we
are at before we use water."
"You are right, sir. I had not thought of that," agreed Grace.
"Our buckets are full, aren't they?" questioned Anne.
"Yes--of sand," spoke up Elfreda.
"The first thing to do is to settle the water question. Ping!"
Ping Wing came running up, his white suit the color of the
landscape, for Ping had been rolled in the sand to his utter
undoing.
"Go see how many horses we have left."
"Me savvy. Tlee."
"Three? That is better than I hoped for," chuckled the guide.
"With three we can reasonably look forward to finding the others
somewhere on the desert, but we can't do much to improve our
situation until daylight. No use to search for our equipment
before then. I will look into the water question, however, right
now."
"This is the most violent landscape that it has ever been my
misfortune to gaze upon," declared Elfreda Briggs, tossing her
fallen hair up and down to shake the sand out of it, a proceeding
that was followed by each of the girls.
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