LA BONTE'S ADVENTURES. 139 



of the ethers, was killed, and its blood greedily drunk ; a por- 

 tion of the flesh being eaten raw, and a supply carried with 

 them for future emergencies. 



The next morning two of the horses lay dead at their 

 pickets, and one only remained, and this in such a miserable 

 state that it could not possibly have travelled six miles further. 

 It was, therefore, 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 

 horse's hot blood only served to increase ; their lips became 

 parched and swollen, their eyes bloodshot, and a giddy sick- 

 ness seized them at intervals. About mid-day they came in 

 sight of a mountain on the right hand, which appeared 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 arriving at the base, the most minute search failed to dis- 

 cover the slightest traces of water, and the vegetation merely 

 consisted of dwarf pinon and cedar. With their sufferings 

 increased by the exertions 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 floundered was deep and heavy, and, 

 to complete their sufferings, a high wind blew it in their 

 faces, filling their mouths and noses with its searching 

 particles. 



Still they struggled on manfully, and not a murmur was 

 heard until their hunger had entered the second stage upon 

 the road to starvation. They had now been three days with- 

 out food or water ; under which privation nature can hardly 

 sustain herself for a much longer period. On the fourth 

 morning the men looked wolfish, their captives following be- 

 hind in sullen and perfect indifference, occasionally stooping 

 down to catch a beetle if one presented itself, and greedily 

 devouring it. A man named Forey, a Canadian half-breed, 





