us up, we would walk out into the pool on
it, taking a blanket with us, which we would swash around and get as
full of water as it would hold, then carrying it ashore, two men, one
holding each end, would twist the filthy water out into a pan, which in
turn would be emptied into our canteens, to last until the next
camping-place. As the stomach would not retain this water for even a
moment, it was only used to moisten the tongue and throat.

One afternoon we noticed on the side of a mountain spur off to our left
a green spot part way up its side. We looked at the spot and then at the
bend to which we were going, and as each seemed to be about
equi-distant we concluded to go to the mountains, believing we would
find water.

Well, if any of you have had any experience in travelling toward a
mountain you, as did we, probably under-estimated the distance. We left
the trail at 3 o'clock and tramped until nearly sundown before we began
to make the ascent, always keeping our eyes on that green spot. About an
hour after dark we came into the bed of a dry creek, and believing that
it would eventually lead us to water, we followed it up until about
midnight, when we came to water in a ditch about two feet wide and a few
inches deep.

Ourselves and animals being nearly exhausted, we just laid down in that
stream, and I guess each one came pretty near drinking his barrel of
water. We pulled off the packs and let the animals go loose in the feed,
which was very good, while we were soon stretched out and sound asleep.
When we woke in the morning the sun was well up and sending down its
scorching rays into our faces. We made some coffee, drank it and felt
better. We stayed there until noon, as the animals were still getting
good feed, and we--well, we were getting all the water we wanted. We
filled our canteens with it, and after making necessary preparations
started to strike the river again, which we could plainly see from our
mountain perch, also slow moving trains, as they plod their weary way
over the plain.

We reached the river about sundown and as we looked against the western
horizon, began to see quite distinctly the snow-capped range of the
Sierra Nevada Mountains. They looked grand and formidable to us, knowing
that we must climb up and over them before we could reach our journey's
end. They held no terror for us, however, for we knew that we should
suffer neither from heat nor thirst during our trail over their broad