nd with thread rotted by the dust of the deserts, were
worn to shreds. Unshaven and unshorn, with sunken cheeks and eyes
bright with the delirium of thirst, he dragged his weary way across the
desert. He reached Apache Spring shortly after the passage of the
Indians, but craving for water was so great that he did not observe
their trail.

Reeling toward the spring, he cast aside his hat and flung down his
rifle in his eagerness to drink. Throwing himself on his face before
the hollow in the rock from which the water trickled, he first saw that
the waters had dried up. With his bony fingers he dug into the dry
sand, crying aloud in despair. Stiffly he arose and blundered blindly
to a rock, upon which he sank in his weakness.

"Another day like this and I'll give up the fight," he moaned. "Apache
Spring dry--the first time in years; Little Squaw Spring, nothing but
dust and alkali; it is twenty miles to Clearwater Spring--twenty
miles--if I can make it."

Dick trembled with weakness. His swollen tongue clove to the roof of
his mouth. His lips were cracked and blackened. Bits of foam
flickered about the corners of his mouth. The glare blinded his eyes,
which were half-closed. At times fever-waves swept over him; again he
shuddered with cold.

Sounds of falling waters filled his ears. The sighing of the wind
through the canon walls suggested the trickling of fountains. Rivers
flowed before his eyes through green meadows, only to fade into the
desert as he gazed.

"What a land! what a land! It is the abode of the god of thirst! He
tempts men into his valley with the lure of gold, and saps the
life-blood from their bodies--drop by drop. Drop by drop I hear it
falling. No, it is water I hear! There it is! How cool it looks!"

Dick rose and staggered toward the cliff. In his delirium of thirst he
saw streams of water gush down the mountainside. Holding out his arms,
he cried: "Saved, saved!"

His hands fell limply by his sides as the illusion faded. He then
doubled them into fists, and shook them at the cliff in a last defiance
of despair. "You sha'n't drive me mad!"

He seized his empty canteen, pressing it to his lips.

"No, I drained that two days ago--or was it three?" he whispered in
panic, as he threw it aside.

Picking up his gun, he falteringly attempted the ascent. "I won't give
up--I won't," he shouted huskily. "I've fought the desert before and
conquered. I'll conquer again--I'll-