als that Susie had driven from the reservation. It was now no effort
to keep up with them, and Smith herded them in front of him like a flock
of sheep. He wondered what another day, perhaps two days more, of
constant travel would do, if fifty miles or so had used them up. There was
not now the fear of capture to urge him forward, but the need of reaching
water was an equally great incentive to haste.

Smith travelled until late in the afternoon without an audible complaint
at the intense discomforts of the day. He found no water, and he ate only
a handful of sugar as he rode. He journeyed constantly toward the
northeast, in which direction, he thought, must be the ranch which was his
destination. At each intervening gulch a hope arose that it might contain
water, but always he was disappointed. Between the alkali dust and the
heat of the midday sun, which was unusually hot for the time of year, his
lips were cracked and his throat dry.

"Ain't this hell!" he finally muttered fretfully. "And no more jump in
this horse nor a cow. I can do without grub, but water! Oh, Lord! I could
lap up a gallon."

The slight motion of his lips started them bleeding. He wiped the blood
away on the back of his hand and continued:

"This is a reg'lar stretch of Bad Lands. If them blamed Injuns hadn't
lied, I could have packed water easy enough. They don't seem to be no end
to it, and I must have come forty mile. You're in for it, Smith. It's
goin' to be worse before it's better. If I could only lay in a crick--roll
in it--douse my face in it--soak my clothes in it! God! I'm dry!"

He spurred his horse, but there was no response from it. It was dead on
its feet, between the hard travel of the previous day and night and
another day without water. He cursed the horses ahead as they lagged and
necessitated extra steps.

He rode for awhile longer, until he realized that at the snail's pace they
were moving he was making little headway. A rest would pay better in the
long run, although there was some two hours of daylight left.

The dull-eyed horses stood with drooping heads, too thirsty and too tired
to hunt for the straggling spears of grass and salt sage which grew
sparsely in the alkali soil.

After Smith had unsaddled, he opened the grain-sack which contained his
provisions. Spreading them out, he stood and eyed them with contempt.

"And I calls myself a prairie man," he said aloud, in self-disgust.
"Swine-buzzom--when I'm perishin