|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 29
Now and then the silence was broken by the far off echoing scream
of a prowling coyote or the distant hoot of an owl. But the
Overlanders did not hear. They were sleeping soundly, storing up
energy for the coming day, a day that was destined to be filled
with hardships and excitement and peril for them.
CHAPTER VIII
CALLERS DROP IN
Heat waves were shimmering over the eastern horizon when the
Overland girls awakened next morning. The guide had been up since
daybreak fetching "bitter water," as the girls called it, and
serving it to the ponies and burros.
"Whew!" exclaimed Elfreda. "This looks like a warm day."
"Regular Russian bath day," agreed Anne Nesbit.
"I fear we girls will not have any complexions left after this
journey," added Nora Wingate. "I wonder if that husband of mine is
still asleep?"
"Hippy is always sleeping--when he isn't awake or eating,"
declared Emma ambiguously, causing a laugh at her expense.
"You folks made a mistake that time," chuckled Hippy from the
adjoining tent.
"Everybody makes mistakes. That's why they put erasers on lead
pencils," retorted Emma quickly.
"Good night!" they heard Hippy Wingate mutter, after which he
relapsed into silence, while a shout of laughter greeted Emma's
sally.
"Come, girls, turn out," urged Grace. "We have a day ahead of us."
Breakfast was ready when they emerged from their tents, and this
time they ate without complaining of the bitter taste of food and
water.
The sun came up while they were at breakfast, lighting up the
cheerless landscape and whitening the sands. The mountain range
where they first camped had disappeared in the distance and they
were alone in the burning silence. Ahead, here and there, ugly
buttes lay baking in the morning heat, some showing a variety of
dazzling colors, others a dull leaden gray.
"How far do we go to-day, Hi?" questioned Lieutenant Wingate.
"Until we find water," was the brief, but significant reply.
After breakfast, and while Ping, singing happily, was striking
camp and packing the equipment on the burros, Mr. Lang and Hippy
brought in and saddled the ponies, turning each one over to its
rider as it was made ready; then the start was made. Hippy
Wingate, the girls observed, held a small package under one arm,
which he guarded so carefully that it aroused the curiosity of his
companions, but Hippy merely grinned in response to their
questioning.
As the sun rose higher the heat became well nigh unbearable to
some of the party, and especially to Emma, if one were to judge by
her bitter complaints. Emma declared that she never could live
through it, and Grace began to have doubts herself with reference
to her little friend.
As they progressed, the landscape grew more and more desolate and
forbidding. Gaunt ravens soared staring over the wan plains, hairy
tarantulas now and then hopped from the path of the ponies, and
the "side-winder"--the deadly horned rattlesnake, which gets its
name from its peculiar side-long motion as it crawls across the
burning sands--squirmed out of the way, following snorts of fear
from the ponies.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|