Next day we left Abu Raga near mid-afternoon, not sorry, for this beautiful place had been unhealthy for us and fever had bothered us during our three days in its confined bed. Auda led us up a tributary5 valley which soon widened into the plain of the Shegg — a sand flat. About it, in scattered6 confusion, sat small islands and pinnacles7 of red sandstone, grouped like seracs, wind-eroded at the bases till they looked very fit to fall and block the road; which wound in and out between them, through narrows seeming to give no passage, but always opening into another bay of blind alleys8. Through this maze9 Auda led unhesitatingly; digging along on his camel, elbows out, hands poised10 swaying in the air by his shoulders.
There were no footmarks on the ground, for each wind swept like a great brush over the sand surface, stippling11 the traces of the last travellers till the surface was again a pattern of innumerable tiny virgin12 waves. Only the dried camel droppings, which were lighter13 than the sand and rounded like walnuts14, escaped over its ripples15.
They rolled about, to be heaped in corners by the skirling winds. It was perhaps by them, as much as by his unrivalled road-sense, that Auda knew the way. For us, the rock shapes were constant speculation16 and astonishment17; their granular surfaces and red colour and the curved chiselling18 of the sand-blast upon them softened19 the sunlight, to give our streaming eyes relief.
In the mid-march we perceived five or six riders coming from the railway. I was in front with Auda, and we had that delicious thrill: fiend or enemy?’ of meeting strangers in the desert, whilst we circumspectly20 drew across to the vantage side which kept the rifle-arm free for a snap shot; but when they came nearer we saw they were of the Arab forces. The first, riding loosely on a hulking camel, with the unwieldy Manchester-made timber saddle of the British Camel Corps21, was a fair-haired, shaggy-bearded Englishman in tattered22 uniform. This we guessed must be Hornby, Newcombe’s pupil, the wild engineer who vied with him in smashing the railway. After we had exchanged greetings, on this our first meeting, he told me that Newcombe had lately gone to Wejh to talk over his difficulties with Feisal and make fresh plans to meet them.
Newcombe had constant difficulties owing to excess of zeal23, and his habit of doing four times more than any other Englishman would do; ten times what the Arabs thought needful or wise. Hornby spoke24 little Arabic; and Newcombe not enough to persuade, though enough to give orders; but orders were not in place inland. The persistent25 pair would cling for weeks to the railway edge, almost without helpers, often without food, till they had exhausted26 either explosives or camels and had to return for more. The barrenness of the hills made their trips hungry for camels, and they wore out Feisal’s best animals in turn. In this Newcombe was chief sinner, for his journeys were done at the trot27; also, as a surveyor, he could not resist a look from each high hill over the country he crossed, to the exasperation28 of his escort who must either leave him to his own courses (a lasting29 disgrace to abandon a companion of the road), or founder30 their own precious and irreplaceable camels in keeping pace with him. ‘Newcombe is like fire,’ they used to complain; Tie burns friend and enemy’; and they admired his amazing energy with nervous shrinking lest they should be his next friendly victims.
Arabs told me Newcombe would not sleep except head on rails, and that Hornby would worry the metals with his teeth when gun-cotton failed. These were legends, but behind them lay a sense of their joint31 insatiate savagery32 in destroying till there was no more to destroy. Four Turkish labour battalions33 they kept busy, patching culverts, relaying sleepers34, jointing new rails; and gun-cotton had to come in increasing tons to Wejh to meet their appetites. They were wonderful, but their too-great excellence35 discouraged our feeble teams, making them ashamed to exhibit their inferior talent: so Newcombe and Hornby remained as individualists, barren of the seven-fold fruits of imitation.
At sunset we reached the northern limit of the ruined sandstone land, and rode up to a new level, sixty feet higher than the old, blue-black and volcanic36, with a scattered covering of worn basalt-blocks, small as a man’s hand, neatly37 bedded like cobble paving over a floor of fine, hard, black cinder-debris of themselves. The rain in its long pelting38 seemed to have been the agent of these stony39 surfaces by washing away the lighter dust from above and between, till the stones, set closely side by side and as level as a carpet, covered all the face of the plain and shielded from direct contact with weather the salty mud which filled the interstices of the lava40 flow beneath. It grew easier going, and Auda ventured to carry on after the light had failed, marching upon the Polar Star.
It was very dark; a pure night enough, but the black stone underfoot swallowed the light of the stars, and at seven o’clock, when at last we halted, only four of our party were with us. We had reached a gentle valley, with a yet damp, soft, sandy bed, full of thorny41 brushwood, unhappily useless as camel food. We ran about tearing up these bitter bushes by the roots and heaping them in a great pyre, which Auda lit. When the fire grew hot a long black snake wormed slowly out into our group; we must have gathered it, torpid42, with the twigs43. The flames went shining across the dark flat, a beacon45 to the heavy camels which had lagged so much to-day that it was two hours before the last group arrived, the men singing their loudest, partly to encourage themselves and their hungry animals over the ghostly plain, partly so that we might know them friends. We wished their slowness slower, because of our warm fire. In the night some of our camels strayed and our people had to go looking for them so long, that it was nearly eight o’clock, and we had baked bread and eaten, before again we started. Our track lay across more lava-field, but to our morning strength the stones seemed rarer, and waves or hard surfaces of laid sand often drowned them smoothly46 with a covering as good to march on as a tennis court. We rode fast over this for six or seven miles, and then turned west of a low cinder-crater across the flat, dark, stony watershed47 which divided Jizil from the basin in which the railway ran. These great water systems up here at their springing were shallow, sandy beds, scoring involved yellow lines across the blue-black plain. From our height the lie of the land was patent for miles, with the main features coloured in layers, like a map.
We marched steadily48 till noon, and then sat out on the bare ground till three; an uneasy halt made necessary by our fear that the dejected camels, so long accustomed only to the sandy tracks of the coastal49 plain, might have their soft feet scorched50 by the sun-baked stones, and go lame44 with us on the road. After we mounted, the going became worse, and we had continually to avoid large fields of piled basalt, or deep yellow watercourses which cut through the crust into the soft stone beneath. After a while red sandstone again cropped out in crazy chimneys, from which the harder layers projected knife-sharp in level shelves beyond the soft, crumbling51 rock. At last these sandstone ruins became plentiful52, in the manner of yesterday, and stood grouped about our road in similar chequered yards of light and shade. Again we marvelled53 at the sureness with which Auda guided our little party through the mazy rocks.
They passed, and we re-entered volcanic ground. Little pimply54 craters55 stood about, often two or three together, and from them spines56 of high, broken basalt led down like disordered causeways across the barren ridges57; but these craters looked old, not sharp and well-kept like those of Ras Gara, near Wadi Ais, but worn and degraded, sometimes nearly to surface level by a great bay broken into their central hollow. The basalt which ran out from them was a coarse bubbled rock, like Syrian dolerite. The sand-laden winds had ground its exposed surfaces to a pitted smoothness like orange-rind, and the sunlight had faded out its blue to a hopeless grey.
Between craters the basalt was strewn in small tetrahedra, with angles rubbed and rounded, stone tight to stone like tesseract upon a bed of pink-yellow mud. The ways worn across such flats by the constant passage of camels were very evident, since the slouching tread had pushed the blocks to each side of the path, and the thin mud of wet weather had run into these hollows and now inlaid them palely against the blue. Less-used roads for hundreds of yards were like narrow ladders across the stone-fields, for the tread of each foot was filled in with clean yellow mud, and ridges or bars of the blue-grey stone remained between each stepping place. After a stretch of such stone-laying would be a field of jet-black basalt cinders59, firm as concrete in tie sun-baked mud, and afterwards a valley of soft, black sand, with more crags of weathered sandstone rising from the blackness, or from waves of the wind-blown red and yellow grains of their own decay.
Nothing in the march was normal or reassuring60. We felt we were in an ominous61 land, incapable62 of life, hostile even to the passing of life, except painfully along such sparse63 roads as time had laid across its face. We were forced into a single file of weary camels, picking a hesitant way step by step through the boulders64 for hour after hour. At last Auda pointed65 ahead to a fifty-foot ridge58 of large twisted blocks, lying coursed one upon the other as they had writhed66 and shrunk in their cooling. There was the limit of lava; and he and I rode on together and saw in front of us an open rolling plain (Wadi Aish) of fine scrub and golden sand, with green bushes scattered here and there. It held a very little water in holes which someone had scooped67 after the rainstorm of three weeks ago. We camped by them and drove our unladen camels out till sunset, to graze for the first adequate time since Abu Raga.
While they were scattered over the land, mounted men appeared on the horizon to the east, making towards the water. They came on too quickly to be honest, and fired at our herdsmen; but the rest of us ran at once upon the scattered reefs and knolls68, shooting or shouting. Hearing us so many they drew off as fast as their camels would go; and from the ridge in the dusk we saw them, a bare dozen in all, scampering69 away towards the line. We were glad to see them avoid us so thoroughly70. Auda thought they were a Shammar patrol.
At dawn we saddled up for the short stage to Diraa, the water pools of which Sharraf had told us. The first miles were through the grateful sand and scrub of Wadi Aish, and afterwards we crossed a simple lava flat. Then came a shallow valley, more full of sandstone pillars and mushrooms and pinnacles than anywhere yesterday. It was a mad country, of nine-pins from ten to sixty feet in height. The sand-paths between them were wide enough for one only, and our long column wound blindly through, seldom a dozen of us having common sight at once. This ragged71 thicket72 of stone was perhaps a third of a mile in width, and stretched like a red copse to right and left across our path.
Beyond it a graded path over black ledges73 of rotten stone led us to a plateau strewn with small, loose, blue-black basalt shards74. After a while we entered Wadi Diraa and marched down its bed for an hour or more, sometimes over loose grey stone, sometimes along a sandy bottom between low lips of rock. A deserted75 camp with empty sardine76 tins gave proof of Newcombe and Hornby. Behind were the limpid77 pools, and we halted there till afternoon; for we were now quite near the railway, and had to drink our stomachs full and fill our few water-skins, ready for the long dash to Fejr.
In the halt Auda came down to see Farraj and Daud dress my camel with butter for relief against the intolerable itch78 of mange which had broken out recently on its face. The dry pasturage of the Billi country and the infected ground of Wejh had played havoc79 with our beasts. In ahl Feisal’s stud of riding-camels there was not one healthy; in our little expedition every camel was weakening daily. Nasir was full of anxiety lest many break down in the forced march before us and leave their riders stranded80 in the desert.
We had no medicines for mange and could do little for it in spite of our need. However, the rubbing and anointing did make my animal more comfortable, and we repeated it as often as Farraj or Daud could find butter in our party. These two boys were giving me great satisfaction. They were brave and cheerful beyond the average of Arab servant-kind. As their aches and pains wore off they showed themselves active, good riders, and willing workmen. I liked their freedom towards myself and admired their instinctive81 understanding with one another against the demands of the world.
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1
windings
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| （道路、河流等）蜿蜒的，弯曲的( winding的名词复数 )； 缠绕( wind的现在分词 )； 卷绕； 转动（把手） | |
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salute
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| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
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velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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margin
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| n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘 | |
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tributary
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| n.支流；纳贡国；adj.附庸的；辅助的；支流的 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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pinnacles
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| 顶峰( pinnacle的名词复数 )； 顶点； 尖顶； 小尖塔 | |
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alleys
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| 胡同，小巷( alley的名词复数 )； 小径 | |
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maze
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| n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑 | |
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poised
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| a.摆好姿势不动的 | |
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stippling
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| n.点刻法，点画v.加点、绘斑，加粒( stipple的现在分词 )；（把油漆、水泥等的表面）弄粗糙 | |
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12
virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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13
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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14
walnuts
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| 胡桃（树）( walnut的名词复数 )； 胡桃木 | |
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ripples
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| 逐渐扩散的感觉( ripple的名词复数 ) | |
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speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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18
chiselling
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| n.錾v.凿，雕，镌( chisel的现在分词 ) | |
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19
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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circumspectly
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| adv.慎重地，留心地 | |
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corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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tattered
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| adj.破旧的，衣衫破的 | |
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zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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25
persistent
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| adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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trot
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| n.疾走，慢跑；n.老太婆；现成译本；(复数）trots:腹泻（与the 连用）；v.小跑，快步走，赶紧 | |
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exasperation
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| n.愤慨 | |
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29
lasting
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| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
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Founder
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| n.创始者，缔造者 | |
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joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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32
savagery
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| n.野性 | |
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33
battalions
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| n.（陆军的）一营（大约有一千兵士）( battalion的名词复数 )；协同作战的部队；军队；（组织在一起工作的）队伍 | |
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34
sleepers
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| n.卧铺（通常以复数形式出现）；卧车( sleeper的名词复数 )；轨枕；睡觉（呈某种状态）的人；小耳环 | |
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35
excellence
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| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
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volcanic
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| adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的 | |
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neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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38
pelting
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| 微不足道的，无价值的，盛怒的 | |
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39
stony
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| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
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40
lava
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| n.熔岩，火山岩 | |
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41
thorny
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| adj.多刺的，棘手的 | |
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42
torpid
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| adj.麻痹的，麻木的，迟钝的 | |
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43
twigs
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| 细枝，嫩枝( twig的名词复数 ) | |
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44
lame
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| adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的 | |
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45
beacon
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| n.烽火，（警告用的）闪火灯，灯塔 | |
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46
smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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47
watershed
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| n.转折点，分水岭，分界线 | |
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48
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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49
coastal
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| adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的 | |
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50
scorched
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| 烧焦，烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（植物）枯萎，把…晒枯； 高速行驶； 枯焦 | |
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51
crumbling
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| adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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52
plentiful
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| adj.富裕的，丰富的 | |
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53
marvelled
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| v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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54
pimply
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| adj.肿泡的；有疙瘩的；多粉刺的；有丘疹的 | |
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55
craters
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| n.火山口( crater的名词复数 )；弹坑等 | |
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56
spines
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| n.脊柱( spine的名词复数 )；脊椎；（动植物的）刺；书脊 | |
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57
ridges
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| n.脊( ridge的名词复数 )；山脊；脊状突起；大气层的)高压脊 | |
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58
ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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59
cinders
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| n.煤渣( cinder的名词复数 )；炭渣；煤渣路；煤渣跑道 | |
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60
reassuring
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| a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的 | |
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ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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sparse
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| adj.稀疏的，稀稀落落的，薄的 | |
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64
boulders
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| n.卵石( boulder的名词复数 )；巨砾；（受水或天气侵蚀而成的）巨石；漂砾 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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66
writhed
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| （因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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67
scooped
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| v.抢先报道( scoop的过去式和过去分词 )；（敏捷地）抱起；抢先获得；用铲[勺]等挖（洞等） | |
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68
knolls
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| n.小圆丘，小土墩( knoll的名词复数 ) | |
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69
scampering
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| v.蹦蹦跳跳地跑，惊惶奔跑( scamper的现在分词 ) | |
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70
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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71
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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72
thicket
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| n.灌木丛，树林 | |
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73
ledges
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| n.（墙壁，悬崖等）突出的狭长部分( ledge的名词复数 )；（平窄的）壁架；横档；（尤指）窗台 | |
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74
shards
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| n.（玻璃、金属或其他硬物的）尖利的碎片( shard的名词复数 ) | |
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75
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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sardine
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| n.[C]沙丁鱼 | |
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limpid
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| adj.清澈的，透明的 | |
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itch
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| n.痒，渴望，疥癣；vi.发痒，渴望 | |
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havoc
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| n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱 | |
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stranded
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| a.搁浅的，进退两难的 | |
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instinctive
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| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
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