In the immediate foreground
were several prostrate forms, mostly Arabs injured in the fight for the
camels, and so gravely wounded that they could not move. A struggling
camel or two, screaming and kicking in agony, seemed to be strangely
out of place in the peaceful hush which instantly enfolded the desert.
The shouting and musketry that made pandemonium there a few minutes
earlier had vanished. The tops of the more distant mountains were
glowing in purple and gold, and the blue of the sky was deepening. In
that brief hour before the utter darkness that follows sunset the
desert has a rare beauty. It has lights and shades denied to softer
landscapes. Titania's bower can show no more brilliant color effects.
It is then a fit background for romance and mystery, but it breathes no
hint of war or death, and such things wear a sacrilegious aspect when
brought forcibly into those fairy-like surroundings.
Royson, though he had watched the transformation of rock and arid earth
many a time with kindling eyes, gave small heed to the dream-face of
nature as he scanned the splendid prospect for sign of further attack
by the Hadendowas.
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