Amanda in Arabia: The Perfume Flask by Darlene Foster Page B

whirling the sand around like a frenzied dancer. It was like being inside a dark and scary haunted house, not knowing what was ahead of you, beside you or behind you.
    Ali Baba pointed his head forward and kept moving into the thick fog of sand and dust. ‘How can he see?’ thought Amanda. The sand was grinding in her teeth, blowing up her nose and filling her ears. She tried to keep her eyes closed. She knew better than to say anything again in case she would swallow a mouthful of sand.
    Shamza in front provided some protection. She hung onto her tighter. The princess must have known she was scared because she gave her hand a comforting squeeze.
    â€˜I sure am glad I’m not out here by myself. But what has happened to Leah and Mohammed? Leah must wish she had never met me. If we get through this alive, I wonder if she will ever forgive me?’
    Slow and steady they rode on through the sand storm, not knowing how long it would last or where the others were. Then the screaming wind turned to a low moan and the shapes of some dunes could be made out. There was a glow in the sky like a light bulb with a scarf tied around it. The sand started to settle in drifts that looked like a sandy sea of waves. A camel with two riders appeared in front of them.
    â€œMohammed, Leah!” called Amanda, “Is that you?”
    â€œYes, it is us.”
    â€œWhere have you been? Where did you go? Why didn’t you stay with us?”
    â€œWe did not go anywhere. We were here, in front of you, all the while. You just couldn’t see us through the blowing sand.”
    â€œDo you know where we are? Are we lost? Will we die out here?”
    â€œThe storm slowed us down but did not lead us astray. We do not worry about storms, they come – they go,” said Mohammed. “Our camels do not get lost in storms; they are made for the desert. They have a second set of clear eyelids that protect their eyes from the sand and lots of nose hairs to keep the sand out.”
    Amanda was beginning to realize what a truly amazing creature the camel was.
    She patted the animal’s rump, “Ali Baba, you’re the best!”
    â€œThat is why we call our camels Ata Allah – God’s gift.” Shamza smiled as she loosened her scarf. “And you were very brave coming through the storm, not crying or making any noise.”
    Amanda was glad she had kept her mouth shut for once.
    The weary travelers continued to climb up and down the endless dunes. They rounded one large dune and saw something sticking out of the sand. Mohammed jumped off Sheba to examine it. He brushed some sand away and began to chuckle. He brushed more sand away and it became clear that it was a tire. Soon it was a set of tires attached to an upside down jeep. Amanda looked up and discovered that they were at the base of a broken dune.
    â€œDo you think it is their jeep?”
    â€œOh, yes. It is their jeep, for sure. They must have tumbled over the broken dune in the sand storm.” He dug around the jeep some more. “They aren’t in it.”
    â€œWhere would they be?” asked Leah, looking around.
    â€œThey will be on foot. They are no threat to us now.”
    â€œThat is good,” said Shamza with a faint smile.

Chapter 19
    The weary travelers arrived at a stone hut just as the sun was high in the sky. They were no longer in the desert but on a rocky plain with a large date palm grove in the distance. A very worried Yoseph, who had been waiting for them all night, met them. He had food and water. He put ointment on Amanda’s leg and bandaged it while he listened to their stories about why they were late.
    Then he told them how he found the princess in that very stone hut. She was weak from hunger and her clothes were in tatters. He took her home to his wife who fed her and gave her one of her green saris to wear. That way she would not be recognizable to her own people. He sold her camel to the camel