The Quest of Julian Day (50 page)

As time was an important factor, now that we had arrived in the area where we believed the treasure to be, we decided to take our lunch with us each day and carry on through the rigours of the blazing noontides, in order to cover as great amount of ground as possible. Without the lorries we were able to go much faster, covering up to seventy miles a day, but although we scoured the surrounding valleys, literally from dawn to dusk for the next five gruelling days, we did not find a single thing; and at the end of that time we were beginning to fear the expedition would prove a failure.

Each of our two water-supply lorries was equipped to carry 300 gallons and they had been filled to capacity with filtered water before the expedition had left the last wells in the Oasis of Dakhla. Their horsepower was capable of transporting a much greater weight of water over roads but we had deliberately, and wisely, cut their loads down to the maximum we thought they could carry through trackless country. On a basis of a gallon per head per day for all purposes the 600 gallons were calculated to last the eighteen of us just over 33 days. When we had first settled upon the quantity we should take we had hoped that our caravan would be slightly fewer in numbers, and that, reckoning ten days for the journey from Dakhla to the site of the treasure and ten days for the return journey, we should have well over a fortnight in which to prospect the territory in which the army had foundered and put in the necessary digging to collect as much of the treasure as we could carry, if we could find it.

Unfortunately the water-ration of the additional men whom Amin had considered necessary reduced our time limit on the spot by a day or two and, as we had taken eleven days to get
there, I felt that we ought to allow ourselves at least twelve to get back, in case of accidents. That cut our stay on the spot down to ten days; five of them had already gone without result and only five were now left us if we adhered to our original arrangements.

A gallon a day per head for all purposes was a fairly liberal allowance seeing that the natives did not wash; but they used considerable quantities in their cooking and as, apart from the two guides they were not desert-bred men, they were apt to be careless and wasteful of water in spite of the strict supervision exercised wherever possible by Amin and myself. Even so, we should have been well in hand if the radiators of the motors, which were constantly boiling over in the steep climbs up the sand-dunes, had not consumed much more than I had reckoned upon. That about evened things out so on this, our sixteenth night out from Dakhla, we had just a decent margin over half our original water-supply remaining.

Petrol did not worry for, in addition to a whole lorry devoted to it, each vehicle had set out with a full tank and an additional reserve lashed to its carrier. In our journey we had not consumed anywhere near half our supply and for the last five days the four lorries had been idle, so we had more than sufficient to continue our exploration in the cars and get the whole convoy back.

Water was the difficulty. If we did not strike lucky in the next few days we should have no time left in which to dig, unless we increased the length of our stay on the spot and I knew that there would be overwhelming temptation to do so should we come across any indications of the lost army. To remain there longer, once we were due to set out on our return journey, meant one of two things; either cutting down our daily ration of water, which could be done but might prove a very dangerous proceeding if some unforeseen occurrence held us up on our return journey; or heading north by west for the Oasis of Siwa instead of south-east to Dakhla.

Siwa lay only about eighty miles distant and was by far the nearest inhabited territory in any direction; we could reach it in three days at the most instead of the eleven days we should need to get back to Dakhla. This possible alternative would give us another clear week at any ‘dig' on which we might
be working; but, as against that, Siwa is the capital of the fanatical Senussi who fought against the British and played such havoc with our columns during the Great War.

A state of peace now exists between the Senussi and the Egyptian Government but Siwa is still a forbidden city to Europeans. The Sheik who rules this powerful people and is, at the same time, the head of the strictest of all Mohammedan sects, will not endanger the morals of his nation by allowing the infiltration of Whites who carry the forbidden alcohol and the taint of commercial slavery to native races wherever they penetrate.

It has been only with the very greatest difficulty that a few European explorers have managed to secure permits to visit Siwa, even in recent years, and to do so without the signed warrant which shows one to be under the direct protection of the Lord of the Oasis would be to court death in the outlying villages, since Christians are still regarded as the living images of the Devil by its fanatical inhabitants.

It seemed to me, therefore, that whatever happened, we must turn back in another five days, or six at the very outside, although I knew how bitterly Sylvia would feel about having to do so. The failure of the expedition meant so much more to her than to the Belvilles or myself as, after Clarissa's capital outlay had been repaid from any treasure that we might find, she had expressed her willingness that Sylvia should have the lion's share of the spoils.

When I thought of the dreary existence she had led through lack of money and the fact that somewhere within a few miles of us there must lie literally millions of pounds' worth of antiquities, gold and jewels, I could well understand how she must be feeling. Even a tiny fraction of such a vast treasure would be sufficient to pay the costs of the expedition and set her up with a pleasant income of her own for life. Sir Walter had had practically nothing to leave her and now that he was dead she would have little further chance of even meeting likely young men with a certain amount of money. After this last flutter in Egypt she would have to go home and eke out a microscopic income by buckling down to any sort of job she could get. Therefore to her our success or failure meant either a new lease of life with the realisation of some, at least, if not
all of her dreams; or the grim outlook of a search for work at some unskilled job which would leave her little leisure and barely keep her when she got it.

It was this knowledge and my absolute insistence that we
must
turn back after six more days which led me, very much against my better judgment, to give way to Sylvia and the others when they pressed that, nearly half our time already having gone, we should, in future, divide our forces and let the two cars take different routes each day so that we could prospect double the amount of ground.

The cars having been specially equipped for such work were as fool-proof as possible and Harry always ran over their engines personally each morning before they went out, so there was really very little danger of a breakdown. The principal risk was getting in a soft patch of sand but the huge balloon tyres with which the cars were fitted considerably lessened the chance of this misfortune, and having had over a fortnight's experience of desert driving we were now able to judge with considerable accuracy the good sand from the bad by the slight variation in its colour. In the last event, if we did get stuck, we felt that although it might necessitate a long and tiring walk, we should not be in any really serious danger because we could always follow the tracks of the car back to our camp.

Unfortunately, however, it proved that there were one or two eventualities of which we had not thought.

Next morning I set off with Clarissa in one car and Harry with Sylvia in the other. We had already surveyed all the valleys for some fifteen miles round our camp so for the first part of our journey we kept together. When we reached fresh territory we planted a pole with a
burnous
tied to its top on the crest of a ridge to mark the place as a rendezvous, and parted, having agreed to meet there again at four o'clock in the afternoon so as to return to camp in company.

Clarissa was a cheery companion and no misfortune overtook us but our day's prospecting proved as profitless as the ones that had gone before, and when we met Harry and Sylvia at the rendezvous shortly after four o'clock we learnt that they too had drawn blank.

The following day we set out again, this time changing partners so that Sylvia came with me, and we took a more southerly direction after parting from the others than we had the day before. Yet not a trace of the lost army met our ever-searching eyes as we drove slowly from hill to valley and valley to hill over the never-changing sand.

It was just after lunch that misfortune overtook us. We were skidding half-sideways down a not particularly steep hillside; there was nothing at all unusual about that as this wretched desert driving consisted almost entirely of brief, straight rushes and short, sideways slides; but without warning one of the tyres on the side of the car which was further down the slope seemed to hit something. There was a terrific bump; the car overturned, somersaulted twice and came to rest upside-down in the soft sand of the valley bottom.

The steel roof of the car prevented our being pinned underneath it but we were badly flung about. I got a nasty crack on
the head that made me see stars for a moment and when I pulled Sylvia out we found that she had twisted her ankle.

As soon as I had a chance to take stock of the situation I didn't like the look of things at all. The car was reposing where it had come to rest, roof-downwards and wheels in the air, and I knew at the first glance that on our own we certainly had not the strength to turn it right way up again. We were almost at the limit of our day's prospecting and had been talking only a few minutes before of turning back; so we were the best part of thirty miles from our camp, and some twelve from the rendezvous where we had stuck up our flag-pole again and arranged to meet Harry and Clarissa at four o'clock. The twelve miles' tramp back along our track across the sand-dunes would have been an exhausting undertaking but we should have been able to accomplish it before sundown if it hadn't been for Sylvia's sprained ankle; that was the real trouble and I knew from the pain it caused her even to hobble that we were stuck.

However, I was not unduly worried as, when we failed to arrive at the rendezvous I knew that Harry and Clarissa would come out to find us; a matter which presented little difficulty as all they had to do was to drive along the tyremarks our car had made. I thought Harry would be able to cover the distance in about three hours, so even if he waited until half-past four before setting out, he ought to reach us sometime about sundown. The journey back would have to be made in darkness so it would be slow going as we should be sunk if we once lost our track and the head-lights would have to be kept constantly on it. That meant it would be early morning before we got back to camp. But apart from missing our dinner and sleep it didn't look as though we had much to worry about.

Sylvia very gamely insisted that she could walk and although I tried at first to dissuade her I eventually agreed to let her see what she could do as the nearer we could get to the rendezvous the quicker Harry would find us once he set out.

She put up a very good show to start with as she hobbled along with her arm round my shoulders but after a time we had to stop for her to rest with ever increasing frequency. I tried carrying her for a spell but those elegant limbs of hers
weighed ever so much more than I had bargained for and wading through soft sand with nine stone of tall young woman hanging round my neck proved no joke. One way and another we covered about a couple of miles and despite my pleadings and her obvious pain she would go on to the very last lap; so I wasn't at all surprised when she burst into tears on my shoulder and begged me to forgive her because she could not manage another step.

It was already two o'clock and I endeavoured to cheer her up by saying that Harry and Clarissa would be along in a few hours' time but secretly I wished that she hadn't been so insistent on making the effort as, had we remained near the car I could have made her much more comfortable with some of the things in it whereas, having abandoned it, we could only sit on the barren sands without even the ease that its shelter would have given us from the sun.

An hour drifted by and then I noticed Sylvia sniffing apprehensively. I knew at once what was causing her to do that as it struck me at the same moment. The air was hotter than it had been although quite a strong wind had suddenly started to get up. The dreaded
gibli
was coming, and within another couple of moments it was upon us.

Covering our faces with our clothes we lay down huddled together while the sky to southward grew as black as though night were approaching and eddies of sand began to swish into the air all about us.

It was not, thank God, a bad sandstorm as such storms go although we suffered horrible discomfort for the next half-hour; but when it had passed and we were able to see the surrounding country again, all traces of our life-line had been obliterated. The tracks of our car, which Harry must follow if he were to find us, had been completely wiped out.

If the storm had caught him too, as it almost certainly must have done, he might be hours getting back to our rendezvous instead of reaching there at four o'clock, and if he then set out to find us it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack to search for two human beings, not knowing the direction they had taken, among those countless waves of sand all looking so similar that they might have been turned out from one machine.

I looked at Sylvia and Sylvia looked at me. We said nothing for the moment, but each of us knew that only a miracle could save us from dying there just as Cambyses' legions had perished twenty-four hundred years before.

It suddenly struck me with grim, ironic humour that the Fates had decreed for me a death by thirst; it seemed a particularly raw deal, though, that having suffered all the agonies of approaching death that way only a fortnight before in Thothmes III's tomb, I should be called upon to go through the same ordeal again. As I thought of it I made up my mind that this time I would cheat the Fates, as far as the last hours of torture went, anyway. We would hang on as long as we had a drop of water in the hope that the slender chances of the Belvilles finding us before we died were realised; but, when our water gave out, I would shoot first Sylvia and then myself.