He favored his foot all morning, because a rock had caught in his sandal and had managed to punch a hole in his hard-calloused foot. When Jack came to a likely-looking rock by the road he seated himself and took his foot in his hands tenderly, probing and examining the small wound with his fingers and his eyes. The wood was stained darkish where he had bled upon it, but Jack turned it back down to the road and took to walking again. At that time the sun was very high in the sky, and Jack tipped his neatly woven straw hat closer down over his face to shield it from the scorching rays and the eyes of his fellow travelers. His lower face was heavily sunburned already, and he saw no reason to worsen it, or to attract attention.

He was keeping to the side of a very busy road, and keeping to himself as much as he could. The dust kicked up by his fellow travelers and the stifling desert sun made it hard to breathe, the shouting and arguments for right-of-way grated on his nerves, and by midday he could bear it no longer, turning into the dunes by himself. He regretted the decision after moments when sand got into the cut on his foot and stung it fiercely.

By evening he had walked to a tolerable distance from the road and turned to parallel it, striding as best he could over the shifting sands. They were walking, all of them, into the sundown; great cascades of red and gold striping the sky. He squinted into the setting sun and saw specks of black rising into the distance; and as the caravan drew closer and closer he saw the palm trees of an oasis.

The night came down as cold as the day had been hot. Jack, bathing his tender foot in water scooped from the desert pool, hardly noticed it. He was accustomed to changes in the weather and in temperature. When the sky became absolutely dark he lay back on rugs borrowed from a vendor and counted the dazzling stars until he slept, with the hilt of his sword clasped in his hands.

He was up when the first light of morning touched him, to wash dust off his sweaty neck and face. The water came away brownish from his skin and Jack wrinkled his nose in disgust, not surprised at being dirty but still disappointed by it. The camels that were his companions pushed grouchily at him and snuffled at his open palms.

He was off before the richest merchants in the group had even risen from sleep, making his way into the golden light of the dawn.