266 SPORTING ADVENTURES 



cactus bushes and thorny scrub. The heat 

 was intolerable, and there were no signs of 

 water. On reaching the rendezvous, I found 

 Bicketts (my coxswain), who had come suddenly 

 upon two fine deer, a buck and a doe, but his 

 gun missed fire. I had seen one deer, but only 

 caught a passing glimpse of it, as it bounded 



away. E had seen nothing. We now took 



the shelter in a ranch, from the heat of the sun ; 

 owner of the ranch told us that there were 

 plenty of deer in the neighbourhood, and that 

 they drank no water, the cactus supplying all 

 their wants in this respect. This we found to 

 be the case. He said there was no water near 

 at hand, except in a well by the house for their 

 own use, and even that was brackish. The 

 fruit of the cactus is so juicy and nourishing, 

 that not only can animals subsist on it without 

 other food or drink, but the natives will travel 

 all day under a burning sun, with no other 

 provision than a few of them tied up in a 

 handkerchief or carried on a stick. 



In the cool of the evening we made a fresh 



