Desert Journal 290words

Dear Journal,

I had started this journey in the Jerusalem market feeling confident with a promising treasure map from the fourteenth century Mali Empire. Now however my fortunes have waned to a depressing low, stuck in a foreign desert I have taken shelter in a cave. I am hungry, thirsty and almost all my supplies are gone. I have traveled over an ocean, trekked through foreign lands, and then finally hired a guide at Timbuktu to take me into the Sahara. This was to be the last part of my journey, but my guide abandoned me here in the middle of the desert stealing the camels and supply packs when he went.

It is midday now and all I have left is my backpack, my sleeping roll, a change of clothes, one loaf of bread, a canteen three quarters full, and the map. The destination indicated on the map is twenty miles east through unknown desert, the last known source of water was by a small village twenty miles west, I can survive two days in the desert without water but I can only travel about twenty miles per day. With the promise of a fortune in gold I must push forth, I have invested too much into this to go back now. If I ration myself well I can make it to the destination, check to see if there is anything promising and make it back to the village.

If this is my last journal entry than I beg anyone who finds this journal to send it back to England to my family, the address is written on the front cover. If you find my guide, Abu from Timbuktu please kill him for his traitorous ways.

Wish me luck…


290 words