SALE OF OUTFIT 1 17 



the east and was astonished we could not find the spot. 

 The new direction yielded the same result, and it dawned 

 on us he did not want to give us water; so we swallowed 

 what of our wrath we did not express, and went back to 

 our wagon, shaking the dust of his hospitality from our 

 feet as we went on without water. 



About six we got to the house of the Basque and found 

 a watering trough full of the most refreshing water ; a wel- 

 come find, for on this trip we had planned to get drinks at 

 two points, missing the first by our detour, and the second 

 by a trick. Here we got out our last two ostrich eggs, and 

 I sat down to drill holes in the ends of the shells, through 

 which we blew the contents out. The first one needed no 

 blowing, for of a sudden it blew first, sending a jet square 

 into my face, and showing how highly charged it was. 

 We saved the shell, however, for the museum. The second 

 egg proved all right, and with it, to which he added maca- 

 roni, and a pound of raisins, Billy made a gallon of what we 

 called "powerful feed." It certainly was the best meal we 

 had on the trip. 



The first half of the next day was over good roads, but 

 all the water holes had dried up, and in the afternoon, 

 we struck that part of the road which made people say it 

 was impassable, for there were steep hills where the rains 

 had torn out eight-to ten-foot-deep gulches in the trail, 

 and other places where on the steep slopes the sand had 

 drifted in, in banks many feet deep. Our horses were 

 trained to it, however, and we got through, finally coming 

 down a steep hillside into a narrow valley where there was 

 good grass, though no water. Here we stopped. For our- 

 selves we had some water in the canteen, but it was tough 

 on the horses. 



But next morning about an hour after starting we came 

 to a good spring, after which we all felt better. The road 

 improved and we coasted along down a long canyon toward 

 the ocean, reaching the town of Comodoro Rivadavia 



