Page:Zodiac stories by Blanche Mary Channing.pdf/27



HE sun had set over the rim of the desert.

A pink flush showed where it had disappeared. Overhead, the sky was pale blue.

A little group, consisting of a man, a woman, two children, and a camel, reposed under a lonely rock whose top rose dark against the light in the west. The faces of these travellers were sad and anxious, for the younger of the two children lay fainting with fever in the mother's arms.

"Woe is unto us, Hassan," said the woman, addressing her husband, "woe is unto us that we came on the pilgrimage; 10