He and I seemed to be the only living things between the huge arch of the sky and the desert beneath it.

The barren scene, the sense of loneliness, and the mystery and urgency of my task all struck a chill into my heart.

The boy was nowhere to be seen.

But down beneath me in a cleft of the hills there was a circle of the old stone huts, and in the middle of them there was one which retained sufficient roof to act as a screen against the weather.

My heart leaped within me as I saw it.