Beneath a sloping sand bank, she saw adark spot and ran to it. It was the tip of a saddleprotruding from beneath a sand drift. Unable topull it out, she dug away the sand and wasalarmed to find a dead horse beneath the saddle.She screamed.
"Come here, dad."
The old man realized that the horse musthave been frightened, left its rider in the storm
他們繼續前進一了。
黃昏時候，他們終於發現了那兩個人。一座光禿禿的高沙丘頂上，兩個人東倒西歪地躺在那裏。大胡子主任躺得很別扭，被沙子半埋住身子，茂密的黑連鬢胡子裏嵌滿了沙粒。他緊閉著雙眼，腦袋歪向一邊，由於渴，大概在幻覺中伸出舌頭舔了一口幹沙子，舌尖上沾滿了沙子。那位秘書則完全伏臥在沙土上，臉和嘴貼著沙地，似乎進入了渴念已久的幻夢中，兩手揪著胸口，大概那裏燒得厲害。
老沙頭舔了一下發幹的嘴唇，長籲了一口氣。
“你們嗬，何苦受這份罪，為一隻沙狐，值得嗎？唉。地方選得倒不錯，要是倒在沙坡下邊，那就跟你們的馬匹一樣唆！”
老沙頭把拐棍扔在一邊，蹲下來，在女兒的幫助下把兩人一一扶起來。他很小心地把水灌進他們的嘴裏。漸漸，他們有了知覺。老沙頭把幹炒麵和在水裏，又喂進他們嘴裏。
他們清醒了。
“哦哦，是你……老夥計，謝謝你……”大胡and been buried by the sand.
"Where's the rider?" asked the daughter.
The old man silently looked around at thesand-hills.
"How did you know they came this way,dad?"
" I guessed it. The fact that the fox escapedinto the desert with her cubs was proof that shehad a den here. But where would she dig a holein this drifting sand? Then I remembered thatthere was a ruined city here that I had takensome archaeologists to a few years back. Shecould only have made a hole here. So I headedstraight for this place. "
"But where is the ruined city? I can't seeit.
"The storm has changed the lie of the land.We'll walk on and see. "
They proceeded.
By dusk they finally found the two men ontop of a high dune. Half of Beardy's body wasburied, his thick bushy beard filled with sand.His eyes closed tight, his head turned to oneside, he must have stuck out his tongue andlicked the sand, for his tongue was sand-cov-子苦笑著說。
那位秘書也連聲表示著真心誠意的謝意。
唉，我要你們的感謝有什麼用？老沙頭默默地站起來，把帶來的衣服扔給他們。“穿上吧，這死漠裏一到夜裏就賊冷賊冷，會把你們這些獵人凍壞的。”
老沙頭走開去，抬頭尋視起四周，太陽已經落下去了，沙漠裏暮色蒼茫，朦朦朧朧，沒有發現任何東西。這時，果真一股冷氣從沙地裏冒出來，往上升騰，漫延開來，空氣變得寒冷了。老沙頭咳嗽起來，咳得很費勁，沙柳輕輕捶著他的背，大胡子和秘書都瞧著他。
“你們追的那隻沙狐呢？”老沙頭突然問。
兩個人相視一眼，誰也不開口。
“那隻沙狐呢？沙狐！”老沙頭吼了一聲。兩人嚇了一跳，老沙頭的雙眼像冰冷的刀鋒般盯著他們。
“我們沒有追上，真的，沒有追上。沙漠裏它比馬跑得快，後來風沙中我們完全迷路了……”大胡子尷尬地解釋著。Bred. The secretary was crouched face down as iffallen into a long-awaited dream. His handsclutched at his chest, which must have beenburning inside him.