第六章
老沙頭舉目搜索。黃沙起伏，茫茫無垠，四周都是一樣的顏色，一樣的物體，單調乏味，令人目眩，使你不禁疑惑，世界是不是都由沙漠組成？這裏，找不到一株綠色植物，聽不到一聲鳥蟲鳴。在這種時候，哪怕是聽到一聲蒼蠅的嗡嗡叫，心靈上也感到一種寬慰和輕鬆，感到生命的存在和可貴，減輕不斷攫住心靈的那個可怕的陰影。沒有，沒有任何生命的信息，除了自己燙手背的呼吸。沙柳恐懼地抓起父親的衣角。老頭兒嘴唇幹裂，滲出血。女兒把水壺遞給他。他搖了搖頭。水消耗得不少，可人還沒找到，誰知道在沙漠裏還要跋涉多久。
一麵很陡的沙坡下邊，有一個小黑點。沙柳眼尖，跑過去看。這是從流沙層裏露出來的馬鞍的尖部。她伸手拉．紋絲不動．一控開流Dark sand gathered like black flour under thesandwort bushes. All the leaves of the plants thathad grown sparsely and with difficulty in thedesert withered and became so dry that theycrumbled between one's fingers, and the windstripped the leaves off their branches in no time.It was a cruel world.
Sandy trudged like an old camel. He shield-ed his eyes with his left hand and held his stick inhis right, stopping every few steps to cough.Sometimes, when the wind was too strong forhim to breathe, his face turned purple as hefought for breath, and he would turn around andtake a sip of his wine. His daughter, who taggedbehind him with the bucket of water and the ra-tions, sometimes helped him to pull his feet outof the soft sand.
When the wind let up in the afternoon ofthe second day, the desert plunged suddenly intosilence. The hopping, moving, wild sands werenow as docile and quiet as a child who has misbe-haved and is now waiting for punishment. Thedemon was tired out after a night and two days'wildness.
The old man's eyes searched the rolling,沙，她倒吸了一口冷氣。原來，馬鞍子下邊連著一匹死馬，完全被厚厚的流沙埋掉了。
“爸，快來看！”沙柳驚叫。
老沙頭走過來一看，明白了。這是風暴中，受驚的馬掙脫了主人，倒在這裏被流沙活埋了。
“那人呢？人哪兒去了？”沙柳著急地間。
老沙頭不說話，環視著沙丘，仔細辯認著地形。
“爸爸， 你怎麼知道他們走到這一帶來了？”
“我是猜的。老沙狐帶息子跑進死漠，證明死漠裏有它能躲避的洞穴。孤狸是很精的。可是死漠裏都是沙丘，根本不能挖洞築穴，它能躲哪兒去呢？我想起，這片死漠裏有一座被沙漠埋掉的古城廢址！老沙孤的洞穴，隻能在這古城廢址裏。有一年我領一支考古隊探過古城廢址，所以，一進死漠就奔這一帶來了。”
“那古城廢址在哪兒？怎麼看不見？”
“一刮風沙，這裏的地形變遷很大。咱們再往前走一走。”yellow sand that stretched all around him end-lessly, monotonously and dizzyingly. Was all theworld made up of sand? You couldn't see athread of green or hear a single chirp of insect orbird. At times like this one might be consoledeven by the buzzing of a fly; the existence ofprecious life would drive away the dreadful shad-ow that gripped one's heart. But no. There wasno sign of life except one's own scorchingbreath. The frightened daughter gripped herfather's clothes. The old man's lips were crackedand bleeding, but he shook his head when shehanded him the water bottle. They had used up alot of water without finding the two men. Whoknew how long they would have to stay in thedesert?