Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-08-12
~ndG cCreWh hLeTw P
Land-Fo oAanAmN edaB UndrTp Circumstance

only sound that broke the uncanny
stiffness of the Stn-craZed world. Far
TO the south of us doomed the grim
Sauceoo Mountains. apnallingly remote
in spite Of the transparent desert air
BY IL our clothes were Sopping wet and
our heads reeled from the drive of the
sun We could scarcely see from our
screwed-up eyes.
AT a scragsW false pepper tree We
pulled off the loads. spread one of
our blankets over the branches for
shade the other on the ground to pro-
tect us from the singing heat Of the
sand We lay there painting half
sickened by the sharp, pungent odor of
the oozing pepper tree sap. and pestered
by ell the plaques rolled into one erup-
| ton OF gnatS and flies.
! We drank. We kept on drinking. one
gulp after another. an appalling amount.
/ All our urges turned toward water.
| water, water. Our bodies clamored for
water. We wiiled ourselves not to think
OF water, our mouths throEbed and
aciled for water We willed not 10
! drink. We scolded each other for men
tioning water, But We drank We kept
on drinking recklesSly, prodigally. not
knowing when we should get more
water. we soon used up ali but about
| quart in the cantsens The oil cans
remained. On pinch We cculd rob
the hurros of some
/ got up to give them a sip or two
To my horror, both oil cans were almost
empty. The jolting had looSeued tho
soldered seams As long as The cans
had been On the burros' backs the
sprung places had been on the upper
side But when We had stood the cans
under the tree most of the water had
oozsd out into the sand I gave the
burroS what little remained end flung
the worthless Gems aside.
We nov realized that it was high
time to be eating and going on, but our
wills refused to act on our leaden. per-
spring bodies. We lay painting We
quarreled violently over anything. every
thing-the length of a shadow. the pre-
vious days experiences. the tempera-
ture, the water. II seemed to grow
hotter and hotter. Our hands trembled,
our flsSh crawled. the roots Of my hair
felt gruesomely alive. my clothing was
q resping agony, had an almost un-
comfortable desire to tear everything off.
Gold was no longer our concern, we
thought only of survival
Try as We would the following morn
ing We could not stir our deadened
bodies into an early start When we
finally got off the sun was topping the
eastern horizon and the air was already
hot and stale
We dragged on south The country
unrolled ever more desolate. For two
days there had been no token of thun-
derstorm. Fear now made us parcel
our slight supply of water by the drop
We merely n1oistened our lips two or
three times--a tantalizing procedure
Well, along In the afternoon we met
Papago Indian riding a lean cayuse
toward ella Bend He spoke no Eng
lish. but we made him understand
"Agua-water?" FIe shook his head
obviously. We asked. "Pozo Colorado"
He shook his head violently His coarse
black hair fell into his eyes "Seco.
Seco." was his cultural reply. ella
Bend, Ajo: but Pozo Colorado, no. no.
Mas alla"-farther on. He waved his
hand, indicating the other side Of the
mountains looming in the southwest.
'sDoce leguas," IL leagues. 36 miles.
We debated. We had only few
swallows OF water left Another day
without SUFFICIENT water might see us
crazy. We decided TO cut across TO the
railroad spur running southwest from
ella Bend to Ajo, where. in a pinch.
We should stand chance of being
picked up. Swinging southwest. toward
sundown we reached the northern spur
OF the Saucedo Mountains-barren, vol
caI1ic. tufaceous. Here We camped in
gully
A few birds. fiuttering from bush TO
bush suggested the proximity Of water.
We turned the burrns loose. hoping
their instincts would lead them to