OH, SHOOT! 



rations, anyhow; whenever one of us glued 

 his parched lips to a canteen, the others looked 

 on like starving Armenians and prayed that 

 he would break his arm but when necessity 

 forced us to partake of that salt-water product, 

 our smoldering insides burst into flame. Mere 

 ordinary, perishing thirst became a delightful 

 memory; we quit looking for game and went 

 hunting green maguey plants and the juicier 

 varieties of cactus, such as the deer quench 

 their thirst with. 



Some of those cacti bore crops of what 

 resembled huge luscious watermelons, others 

 had canteloupes sitting on their tops, and of 

 course that made it nice. 



We breathed dust ; we slept in the sand like 

 lizards; we scrubbed our dishes in it until the 

 grub pile disappeared; then we saddled up 

 and hiked back for the coast. Even the 

 animals speeded up. 



It is not an unmitigated delight to ride a 

 burro when it is in a hurry. Without warning, 

 it bursts into a trot for a few mincing strides, 

 then it slips into reverse, stops as if petrified 

 and you kiss it between the ears. 



We arrived at the bay late at night in the 

 midst of a roaring sand storm, and made out 



264 



