a sack of barley for the horse on Jim's shoulders, and lugging a
box of hard bread under one arm and of bacon under the other, he led the
way up among the rocks until they reached Kate's "field hotel," as he
called it. There they dumped their load under the ambulance. Pike
whispered a jovial "Go to sleep, old girl. You're all safe" to the still
trembling Irish woman, then down they went for another load. This time
they came laden with a wonderful assortment. Coffee, sugar, condensed
milk, canned corned beef, potted ham, canned corn and tomatoes, some
flour and yeast powders, a skillet or two, the coffee pot, some cups,
dishes, etc., and these, too, were placed close to the ambulance, to
Kate's entire mystification; and then, sending Jim down for another
little load, Pike set to work to build a tiny fire far back in a cleft
in the rocks.

"We'll all be glad of a cup of coffee now," he said to himself, "and so
will the captain; he should be brought back before day. We may have no
chance for cooking after the sun is up. Thank God, there's water in
plenty here in these hollows."

Out in the Arizona mountains one may journey day after day in July or
August, and all through the fall and winter, and cross gulley, gorge,
ravine, canon and water cross and find them all dry as a bone--not a
drop of water running. It is useless to dig below the surface, as one
could do in sandy soil and find water, for it is all rock. Indeed it
would be impossible to dig; nothing short of blasting would make an
excavation. But a kind Providence has decreed that the scout or traveler
should not be left to die of thirst. Here and there in the low ground or
in the ravines are deep hollows, in which the water has gathered during
the rainy season, and this is almost always palatable and sweet. One
only has to know where these "tanks" are, and he is all right. Both
Captain Gwynne and Pike had twice been over to the Pass before, and,
spending a day or more there scouting the neighborhood, had noted the
little nook among the great bowlders and the abundant supply of water.
It was God's mercy that this was the case.

And now as he boiled his coffee in the little niche whence no betraying
gleam from his fire could shoot out across the gorge, Pike gave himself
over to a calm look at the situation. If the captain recovered the mules
and got back by sunrise--despite fatigue they could give them and the
horses a good feed of barley and then push for the Color