ancholy of
those thin calls that rose and fell all night, now in Gustav's, or
Ernest's deep notes, now in the high treble tones of Elsa or Charlotte.
"Felicia! Felicia! Felicia!" But Felicia did not answer.

With the dawn, the wind rose, and there began that perpetual shifting
and sifting of the sand which in a few hours more, Roger knew, would
obliterate the little girl's trail, although it was only a summer wind
which would die down by mid-morning.

At sun up, a weary eyed, hoarse and hectic group gathered in the living
room of the adobe.

"Now," said Roger, "you girls get three or four hours' sleep, then one
of you go down to the Plant and one of you stay here. We three men will
take a day's water and grub supply and keep to the general beats we had
last night. I can't believe, unless Qui-tha got her, that she wandered
very far."

"But I saw her after Qui-tha had gone. If a rattler struck her she--"
Charley stopped.

"How long does a person live after a rattler bite?" asked Ernest, with
stiff lips.

"A Mexican who worked for us three years ago lived twelve hours but he
was unconscious most of the time," replied Charley.

"Now, you girls go cook a little breakfast," said Gustav, hastily, "and
ve vill do the chores, eh?"

They ate a hasty meal in the kitchen a little later. No one talked.
Charley patted Elsa's shoulder in a helpless way when Elsa now and again
burst into tears. They had finished their preparation for the renewal of
the search when Dick called from the bedroom. Charley went to him,
closing the door after her. What she said the others did not know but
there was silence in the bedroom for some moments after she came out.
Then there was a confusion of sounds and Dick dragged himself on his
hands and knees into the kitchen. He pulled himself up into the chair by
the table. The others stood silently looking at him.

"O God!" he groaned. "O God in Heaven!"

Still no one spoke.

"Hurry!" he shouted. "What are you waiting for? She may be dead now!
Hurry, you fools!"

"I'm going to stay here, Dick," said Elsa.

"You'll not! To hell with me!" Dick paused and lifted a shaking hand to
his eyes for a moment. "Rog, you go along the foot of the range and
search every canyon. Watch every spot of shade. I've warned her so often
about desert sun."

Roger nodded and started off, Peter following him with a good supply of
water and food on his back. Ernest and Gustav were to use the two
horses.

The su