Fantasy Football Challenge - Football Fanatics Library

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Young Knights of the Empire

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sides, which had to be clambered up and down under a hot sun. There was no regular road, because every downfall of rain alters the course of the ravines. So we had to make the best of our way in the general direction of the place we were making for. It is wonderful how easily you lose your direction when you get into a mass of ravines unless you notice carefully your bearings beforehand, and either make for some good landmark, such as a distant mountain peak, or else keep your direction by noticing the position of the sun. In doing this, you must, of course, allow for the sun also changing his position in the sky as the hours pass by. We used the sun to some extent this day, but after a time a cold breeze sprang up, and clouds began to gather, so that in a very little while the sky was overcast and the sun was no longer any guide. Then came on a cold, cold wind, which got more bitter as we struggled against it. But, cold as it was, I did not find that Scouts' kit was so cool as people try to make out; the wind certainly whistled about my knees, but I did not feel so very cold then. We searched for some sort of sheltered place to pitch our tent, and found plenty of such in the dry bed of the river under the cliffs, which formed its banks, but we dared not use it, as rain clouds were banking up, and if heavy rain were to come the dry river bed would in a very short time be a raging torrent. So we struggled on, and at last found a ledge among some rocks above the river bed, which just afforded room for our tent, and here we pitched it. And only just in time, for before we had got it well up the rain began to come down, and continued to rattle on our canvas roof for the rest of the night. But the storm had come with so little warning, and the wind had come before the rain, so we comforted ourselves with the Scouts' weather mottoes:-- "Long foretold, long last; Short notice, soon past." And "When the wind's before the rain, Soon you may make sail again; When the rain's before the wind, Then your sheets and halyards mind." Sure enough, next morning the sky cleared, and a beautiful sunny day enabled us to carry out our next march in comfort. * * * * * ARABS' CANDLES. Our next camp was a delightful one--in place of the open, dry, stormy desert, we found ourselves in groves of young palm trees on the river bank, with plenty of fresh water and plenty of firewood. So we were in luxury, and stayed two days in this spot to enjoy it to the full. We had the additional fun here of catching fish in the river with a hook and line attached to a stick cut from an oleander bush. We found some worms in the irrigated garden, and thus we were able to fish and to catch a good number of barbel. These made a great addition to our larder. A very useful tip to know in Africa is that when all other wood is wet, dead palm branches will always light and burn well. They are most useful as torches in camp, and are nicknamed "Arabs' Candles." * * * * * A DRAGON'S LAIR. We left our camp ground, with its palm trees down by the river, and with our tent and belongings packed on to two mules, and our two Arabs as guides, trekked across a wide, stony plain under a blazing hot sun. Not a particle of shade the whole way, nor a drop of water; every footstep had to be picked among the loose, jagged stones, and our way was continually barred by deep, dry water-courses, which had to be carefully clambered into and scrambled out of. It was a very trying day's march, but yet we enjoyed it. The views of the mountains around us were splendid. [Illustration: EL KANTARA] We were marching parallel with the wonderful range which stands like a turreted wall between Algeria and the Sahara. It is so regular in its outline that it looks almost as if built by the hands of giants, and in the centre is a narrow, broken gap, El Kantara, through which run the road, the river, and the railway. [Illustration: "THE TOOTH," or THE RED CASTLE MOUNTAIN.] We passed on our way close under a solitary peak which stands out from the rest of the neighbouring mountains exactly in the likeness of a

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