Reclining back in the shady recess at the front of the pub, Tom
was talking to Jack about life in general, when old Lofty said
he was going to take a nap, which would refresh him before they
returned with the two lads. Glancing at his watch, Tom saw it was two thirty already. So, he and Jack swallowed the last of
their beers, and sauntered off to load the vehicle with the few
extras, that any experienced traveler in this country would.
Twenty minutes later, they set off to retrieve Sandy and Chooka.

As the time slowly passed, Sandy became more and more worried about the whereabouts of Chooka, he had expected to see or hear
his old friends jovial character materialize somewhere in the
clearing, but there was only the slight murmerings of bird and
insect life recovering.

Tom, and Jack had traveled about thirty kilometers along the old
sandy track, before they noticed that a turbulent storm had been
through there, the sandscape had changed dramaticly, what old
trees that had been, were no longer visible, and the newly soft
deposited sand was making it harder for the vehicle to proceed.
Tom stopped, and deflated the tyres for more traction, and as he
reengaged gears, the look on Jack's face mirrored his own mind.
Eventually they reached their destination, according to the GPS
system, they were exactly forty kilometers from the pub.
They whole area had changed, into what looked like a freshly dug
sand mine, with a couple of odd looking larger piles of sand in
the middle.
Ten minutes later, they found Sandy slumped behind the second
pile, he was very weak, and could not speak, they lifted him
gently, made a quick inspection for any breaks. then assisted him to the vehicle, where they stretched a tarp out from it, so
they could lay him in the shade, and cool him down some.

Chooka's condition was fast approaching critical, when the sun
seemed to stop burning his arm, his breathing was now down to a
low labored wheeze, his sudden release from the sun was caused
by the encroachment of shade afforded from the ridge he lay by.
The old leafless sticky bush that stood off away, now looked as
if it was shrouded in black, there were so many crows in it.
His last defiant thought was, to switch on the detector, what
had he to lose, maybe someone would see the humour of it, but
when he did, it registered a strong hit!

Jack had told Tom to stay with Sandy, while he searched to the other end, then he would branch out further. Tom agreed, but
that jack take the old rifle with him, in case he managed in any
way to find Chooka, then he could fire a shot telling of his
discovery, meanwhile he would contact the pub, and ask for some
assistance. Jack grabbed the rifle. and plenty of water, before
he started the search.
Jacks search of the old surrounds brought no success, so he went
to move further out, but before he did, he decided to check the
last big pile of sand, to see which side was still filtering the
loose sand from the pile, this would give him some indication of
the way the storm was blowing, and he would search that way.
The filtering sand, was on the side pointing east, so he moved in that direction. After a another ten minutes, he noticed that
a couple of crows were spiraling down towards a ridge some four
hundred meters off to his right. His experience of these birds,
was that they had an uncanny telepathy amid themselves for food.
On his last fifty meters of his approach, they began to lift up
on the hot spirals of breeze, with a cawking protest towards his
sudden appearance.
He spotted Chooka, who was lying prostrate, and not seeming to be breathing, he turned immediately and fired three shots off. Then he bent to examine Chooka closely, and soon discovered the
major problem, this man was on the brink of death, and he knew
that he had to strip him, and pour water over him, for that is
the only way to give a perishing man a drink, for the gasping skin absorbs the water, then presently the swollen tongue will
loosen a little, then the person can swallow a few drops of the
liquid of life.
Jack completed his task, and sat back relieved, then noticing
the detector was on, he turned it off.