200 Maxey 



Finally he felt an overpowering desire to sleep. He 

 knew what this meant, but was too exhausted to 

 resist it. Even at that desperate moment, his regard 

 for the little burro asserted itself. He loosened the 

 straps that held the pack, threw the burden off into 

 the snow, and putting his arms around the gentle 

 creature's neck, bade him good-bye and turned him 

 loose. But Maxey refused to move. His master 

 tried to drive him away. It was useless. Too ex- 

 hausted to make further effort, Herbert sank down 

 into the snow, with a prayer on his stiffening lips. 

 How long he remained in a stupor he did not 

 know ; but at last he was partially aroused by some- 

 thing warm coming in contact with his body. He 

 reached out, and in doing so clasped Maxey, who 

 had lain down and was nestling close to him. The 

 warm body was grateful to him, and he clung to it 

 in a bewildered way, scarcely realizing that it was 

 moving, that it was on its feet, and that he was 

 on its back. For hours after that he had a dim 

 consciousness of being carried, he knew not where. 

 Sometimes his fancy led him to believe it was upon 

 the back of an elephant, through some tiger-haunted 



