A QUEST FOR WATER: (Based on actual events in the southern Sahara)
CHAPTER 3: BURIED ALIVE! (6)
After a while, the men holding the rope felt tugging from the bottom; it was a signal for them to lug the boy back up. Several men began pulling on the rope, when suddenly the one nearest the well yelled frantically, “Pull harder, pull harder, the rope is being dragged back in. Pull harder!”
Five more men joined, but all were being drawn into the well. One man hollered “keep pulling!” while another screamed, “the well is caving in!” The girls watched this dreadful scene in horror.
Ten minutes later, the men were still desperately trying to retrieve the boy, but it was too late. The boy had been buried alive. “How could this be possible?” Mouheini asked herself. Less than a half hour earlier, the boy had been standing in front of them. He could not just be gone!