I shouted as loudly as I could across the desert, but there was no answer to my voice. All around us lay the silence and the bare immensity of that stony desert. What was to become of us in the midst of that awful solitude?

We were beginning literally to die of heat, hunger and thirst⁠ ⁠… of thirst especially. At last, I saw M. de Chagny raise himself on his elbow and point to a spot on the horizon. He had discovered an oasis!

Yes, far in the distance was an oasis⁠ ⁠… an oasis with limpid water, which reflected the iron trees!⁠ ⁠… Tush, it was the scene of the mirage.⁠ ⁠… I recognized it at once⁠ ⁠… the worst of the three!⁠ ⁠… No one had been able to fight against it⁠ ⁠… no one.⁠ ⁠… I did my utmost to keep my head and not to hope for water , because I knew that, if a man hoped for water, the water that reflected the iron tree, and if, after hoping for water, he struck against the mirror, then there was only one thing for him to do: to hang himself on the iron tree!