Once more the sunshine of possible success had begun to slant in through a rift in the lowering clouds of disaster.
"It's still, perhaps, only a temporary respite," the major was saying.
"Of course, as long as we stay in the Sahara, we're safe enough from molestation.

It's trying to get out--that, and shortage of petrol--that constitute our problem now." "Yes ?" asked the chief, noncommittally.

He peered out the window at the vast, indigo horizons of the desert, curving off to northward into a semicircle of burnished blue.

Here, there, the etherial wonder of a mirage painted the sandy sea.

Vast distances opened on all sides; the sparkling air, brilliant with what seemed a kind of suspended jewel-dust, made every object visible at an incredible remoteness.