144 IN THE OLD WEST 



fore killed, and its blood drunk, of which, how- 

 ever, the captive squaws refused to partake. The 

 men began to feel the effects of their consuming 

 thirst, which the hot horse's blood only served to 

 increase ; their lips became parched and swollen, 

 their eyes bloodshot, and a giddy sickness seized 

 them at intervals. About mid-day they came in 

 sight of a mountain on their right hand, which ap- 

 peared to be more thickly clothed with vegetation ; 

 and arguing from this that water would be found 

 there, they left their course and made towards it, 

 although some eight or ten miles distant. On ar- 

 riving at the base, the most minute search failed 

 to discover the slightest traces of water, and the 

 vegetation merely consisted of dwarf pifion and 

 cedar. With their sufferings increased by the 

 exertion they had used in reaching the mountain, 

 they once more sought the trail, but every step 

 told on their exhausted frames. The sun was 

 very powerful; the sand over which they flound- 

 ered was deep and heavy; and, to complete their 

 sufferings, a high wind blew it in their faces, fill- 

 ing their mouths and noses with its searching 

 particles. 



Still they struggled onwards manfully, and not 

 a murmur was heard until their hunger had en- 

 tered the second stage upon the road to starva- 

 tion. They had now been three days without 

 food or water, under which privation nature can 

 hardly sustain herself for a much longer period. 



