At last the gale fell calm, and he tried to go northward again; but again came down the sandstorms, and swept him back into the waste, and then all was calm and cloudless as before.

Seven days he strove against the storms, and seven days he was driven back, till he was spent with thirst and hunger, and his tongue clove to the roof of his mouth.

Here and there he fancied that he saw a fair lake, and the sunbeams shining on the water; but when he came to it it vanished at his feet, and there was nought but burning sand.

And if he had not been of the race of the Immortals, he would have perished in the waste; but his life was strong within him, because it was more than man's.
Then he cried to Athene, and said-- 'Oh, fair and pure, if thou hearest me, wilt thou leave me here to die of drought?
I have brought thee the Gorgon's head at thy bidding, and hitherto thou hast prospered my journey; dost thou desert me at the last?
Else why will not these immortal sandals prevail, even against the desert storms?
Shall I never see my mother more, and the blue ripple round Seriphos, and the sunny hills of Hellas ?' So he prayed; and after he had prayed there was a great silence.
The heaven was still above his head, and the sand was still beneath his feet; and Perseus looked up, but there was nothing but the blinding sun in the blinding blue; and round him, but there was nothing but the blinding sand.
And Perseus stood still a while, and waited, and said, 'Surely I am not here without the will of the Immortals, for Athene will not lie.

Were not these sandals to lead me in the right road?
Then the road in which I have tried to go must be a wrong road.' Then suddenly his ears were opened, and he heard the sound of running water.
And at that his heart was lifted up, though he scarcely dare believe his ears; and weary as he was, he hurried forward, though he could scarcely stand upright; and within a bowshot of him was a glen in the sand, and marble rocks, and date-trees, and a lawn of gay green grass.