1. what is the central idea in “the oasis: africa”?
2. what evidence from the story tells you what the central idea is?
for eight weary days we had crawled across the burning desert. in all directions stretched the wastes of the mighty sahara. sand, sand, and always sand; hills of sand, valleys of sand, and paths of sand. sand in the scanty food, sand in the brackish water—water that was drunk lukewarm from a clammy, loathsome water-skin. sand in one’s mouth, nose, and eyes. misery of hunger, torture of thirst; unending discomfort of swarming lice. footsore and weary, but ever before us the pointing finger of the arab sheikh, and his ceaseless: “on, on.”
we had started the journey poorly equipped, and now, having lost two precious days on the way, it seemed likely that if we did not soon strike the oasis, the caravan would perish of thirst. clutch tight your water-skin on the desert, for there is no charity on the sahara, and he that has no water shall not drink!
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