ath Valley Charley stopped and
opened up a water-can while the burros gathered eagerly around. Then he
poured each of them a drink in his shapeless old hat and started them
across the Sink.

"Now, you see?" he said, "you see where Jinny goes? She heads straight
for Stovepipe Hole. She knows she gits water there and that makes her
hurry--and the others they tag along behind."

He took another drink from the Colonel's private stock and smiled as he
smacked his lips. "It's hot to-day," he observed, squinting down his
eyes and gazing ahead through the haze; "yes, it's hot for this time of
year. But Virginia, you ride; and when Tom won't go no further, git off
and he'll lead you to camp."

He went on ahead, swinging his club and laughing, and Heine trotted
soberly at his side; and as he followed the trough of sand-wave after
sand-wave, the rest plodded along behind. A dry, baking heat seemed to
rise up from the ground and the air was heavy and still; the burros
began to groan as they toiled up the slope and their flanks turned wet
with sweat; and then, as they topped a wave, they felt the scorching
breath of the Sink. It came in puffs like the waves of some great sea
upon whose shores they had set their feet; a seething, heaving sea of
heat, breathing death along its lonely beach. It struck through their
clothes like a blast of wind or the shimmering glow of a furnace and at
each drink of water the sweat damped their brows and trickled in streams
down their faces. A wearied burro halted and, as Charley chased him with
his club, the rest rushed ahead to escape; and then, as they came to the
crest of the wave, Virginia's burro stopped dead.

"I'll lead him," she said as Wiley came up, and started after the pack.
Wiley walked along beside her, for he saw that she was spent; and as her
slender feet sank deep in the yielding sand she lagged and slowed down,
and stopped. Then as she turned to take her canteen from the saddle, she
swayed and clutched at the horn.

"You'd better ride," he said and, taking her in his arms, he lifted her
to the saddle like a child. Then he walked along behind, flogging the
burro into action, but still they lagged to the rear. The moon rose up
gleaming and cast black shadows along the sand-dunes, and in the lee of
the wind-wracked mesquite trees; and from the darkness ahead of them
they could hear crazy shoutings as Charley belabored his fleeing
animals. They showed dim and ghostly, as they topped