Wherever they went now was sand, and a dull haze that made the sun look like a copper coin.

And a great silence fell on the caravan, and nothing was heard but the crunch of the camels' pads and the tinkle of the camels' bells.

And no green thing was seen.
And a great terror fell on the caravan, so that one night a third of the caravan deserted.

The rest went on in silence under the dull sun.
And now they came across a village of white skeletons grinning in the silent sand.

And at night there was nothing heard, not even the barking of a dog.