owing that it would not do to give in, I struggled on as
well as I could. Had the fog cleared away, and enabled us to see the
sun,--although the heat would have been increased,--we should have been
in better spirits, for we should have known whether or not we were in
the right direction. Now all was uncertain. We were uncertain but that
we might be retracing our steps towards the lake, going west instead of
east, as we wished to do. My watch told me that the day was advancing.
Should we not obtain food and water before the morning, I felt I could
scarcely hold out until then.

"It will be a pity," I heard Tim muttering; "but it must be done sooner
than let the young master die."

"What's that you say?" I asked.

"I'm just thinkin' that we must kill Caesar an' eat him. If we die,
he'll die; for the wolves an' painters, or maybe the rattlesnakes, will
be puttin' an end to his life, so that it'll be no cruelty to kill him
an' save ourselves."

"I should not have the heart to do that," I said. As my hunger
increased, however, I began to think it would be better to eat poor
Caesar than to die of starvation. Still, watching the faithful animal
as he trotted on beside me, unconscious of the subject of our
conversation, I resolved that it should only be done when we were
reduced to the direst extremity. "We must wait until nightfall, Tim. I
think I can hold out another day. I'll try my best, at all events," I
said.

We walked on some way further, scarcely exchanging a word, when I saw a
creature moving in the grass before me. I thought it was a snake, and
was about to lift my gun to blow off its head, knowing that it would
serve us for food, when I perceived that it was a tortoise.

"Hurrah!" cried Tim; "there's something that will keep us and Caesar
alive for a day at least." And he rushed forward with his axe uplifted,
intending to kill the animal.

"Stay!" I exclaimed. "See, it is evidently going steadily forward, as
if making its way to water. It will lead us to it if we follow it; and
when it has performed that service, we may kill it if necessary."

I had to hold back Caesar, who would have attacked the tortoise, which
went steadily on, as I expected. Afraid of getting too close, lest we
might alarm it and make it conceal itself, we kept at some distance.
Our impatience, however, made us wish that it would move faster than it
was doing. It went on in a straight line, apparently not discovering