Across the desert sands ....

At Sidi al Byriani,  a watch is kept on the desert from the small military outpost - Crichton Odd's survey expedition was due here two days ago..

---oXo---

The expedition had been dogged by bad luck; the first truck had broken an axle on some rocky ground and the big end had blown out on the second truck when they were a day out from Sidi al Byriani; so they gathered up their essentials and continued on foot .... their first stop would be a small oasis ..

They were glad to come in sight of the the Oasis .....

with the oasis secured, men took it in turns to refill their water bottles and have a rest...

 after a short while they left the oasis and headed towards some nearby ruins ....

 as they approached the nearby ruins, they could see a couple of men with a small lorry there, perhaps they could get some help ?

but NO ! they were treasure hunters, up they popped from the ruins guns blazing ....

but soon they found out that they were outmatched ..

and jumped into their van and drove off into the desert .......

while the party had a rest Crichton Odd got his bearings from atop of the remains of a small temple ...

off they went again and neared a small rock field...

the party picked their way through the rocks ....

out of nowhere a small pride of desert lions appeared ....

the nearby men fired at them, killing one but enraging the others who went on the rampage mauling anyone they could reach ....

finally the lions rampage was over, with two of them dead and the other one skulking away....

 the remnants of the little column reformed on the other side of the rock field and trudged across the desert without further incident reaching Sidi al Byriani