Arizona state miner., 1926-10-02
CHAPTER VI-Continued

DuL IL ain HO SOOU, lie Sdlu, SUI
denly discOnsolate. "'Cause why
What's the good OF water less you
.,an use it? The sile here amt thick
enough to put dirt in yore fingernails.
It wouldn't grow a radish. An the
wells wouldn't be artesian. They'd
have to have windmills to work 'em.
And, as I said, they amt no sile.
Seems like plumb bit Of foolishness
to put water where 1t ain't no manner
o. use, don't it?"
"Have another cigar" said Caleb.
Where do you suppose all the water
comes from?"
The Welshman looked at him pity
lngly.
"You fish that stream an you'll see.
This is Caliente sink The stream
runs into 1t like dishwater goes down
the drain. Wish you luck, mister An
thanks for the smokes. Some day, If
you come this way, an I'm feelin'
better, I'll give you a demonstration.
I'll be glad to see you any time.
Kinder lonesome here in this oven,
but it's baking me back to health"
Caleb went on upstream In a maze
II seemed, though his Yankee mind
affected to scoff at the suggestion
while 1t considered it, as If he had
come into close touch with mystery.
He fingered the emblem on his seal
and smiled. Had the sign of the 20
diac, Aquarius, really charged him
with destiny, leading him along the
trail to be the Water-Bearer to the
frontier city Of the sands?
Half mile up the canyon from
where the gravel road branched off,
an arroyo entered from the east
through a bench that was thick
furred with underbrush of desert spe-
cies. Only trickle of water was In
the almost dry watercourse, barely
lasting to mingle with Hermanos
creek.
The place was wild enough, and 81
lent. A grassgrown road chose either
bank at random, fording the creek at
frequent intervals. He found stones
to keep his feet dry as he crossed.
Up the road he began to come
across evidences of an abandoned ran
cheria. There was little left but the
roots and a scattering of tentative
tendrils, scantily leaved. He passed
a corral, no longer tenable, a lean-to
shed without roof, a leaking flume,
a tumbledown wall Of stone, and then
he became aware that he was walk
Ing through what had been once a
garden, stately garden, still with a
certain dignity.
The garden had attracted him un-
consciously and he had left the half
obliterated road. He did not go back
to It but wandered on to the house
that rose above the cypress guard
Caleb's footsteps rang hollowly as he
passed over the flags and glanced in
through where a door mad failed as
warder. He was beginning to people
the place with such ghosts as he imag-
ined should represent the former oc-
cupants when he heard the high, clear
sound of laughter at the very instant
that his nostrils conveyed to his
nerves Of smell, thence to palate and
II
tered and his appetite proclaimed
itself with no uncertainty-the smell
Of broiling meat.
His hope of something from ranch
larder, a glass of milk, piece of cake
or pie, If nothing more substantial,
had died with sight of the deserted
house. The tracks he had been trail
Ing must lead too far for him to fol-
low uncertainty. And now he had
blundered on to picnic-a California
picnic-which means barbecue.
Caleb,s stomach yearned, rose in re-
j, volt against his manners and SO far
won that he ventured to the outer.
door OF the arch and peered through
The laughter had ended but he could
bear the chatter of young voices, men
and women, hidden somewhere down
BY the stream that had wheeled to
COW In front of the old house and
aparkled throuGh the intersticea of a