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Page 47
The guide laughed silently.
"Come with me. We can pitch our tents later on," he directed,
striding away. He led them through mesquite bushes, finally
halting before a patch of odd, pumpkin-shaped cactus, that, with
its grotesque shape, its spines and fishhooks, was far from being
attractive-looking.
Hi's knife was out as he halted, and, with it, he laid open a
cactus plant, revealing to the eager eyes of his charges a silver-
white pulp glistening with water.
"This will relieve your thirst," he said, handing the white, moist
mass to Emma.
"Oh--h--h--h!" gasped Miss Dean. "This is heavenly."
To each of the others Hi gave a handful of pulp.
"Nectar straight from Heaven," murmured Elfreda at her first
taste. "Who would think that so much heavenliness could come from
such a hideous plant, so hideous that, were I alone, it would give
me the shivers to look at?"
Uttering exclamations of satisfaction and delight, the Overland
girls ate and ate, soothing their throats and satisfying their
thirst.
"Please tell us what this is, Mr. Lang," asked Grace.
"It is the bisnaga, sometimes called the 'niggerhead,' belonging
to the cactus family, a plant that is ever hailed with joy by the
thirsty traveler."
"It's a life saver," agreed Lieutenant Wingate. "Where is that
Chinaman? Doesn't he ever get thirsty?"
"Don't worry about him. He is out there in the bushes now,
swallowing 'niggerheads' as fast as he can gulp them down. This is
one of the secrets of the desert. There are others--but a man must
know them before he can take advantage of them."
"Tell us about them. I just dote on secrets," exclaimed Emma, her
good nature now fully restored.
"They might answer for an emergency, but nothing short of real
food would answer for me," declared Hippy.
"Just the same a man might live on what we see before us here for
a long time," replied the guide. "If you will examine those
mesquite bushes you will find a bean pod on them. It is a rich and
nourishing food. Then there are the pears of the tuna and the
fruit of the sahuaro or giant cactus."
"We saw a forest of them on the Apache Trail," Grace informed him.
"Yes, I know. You will find all of these nourishing foods about
you here, hideous, some of them, but furnishing food and water
that have saved the lives of many desert travelers.
"Besides these food plants of the desert, we have the cat's-claw,
mesquite and cholla shrubs for fuel; the bear-grass and yuccas for
camp-building. Better than a mirage, is it not, Miss Dean?"
Emma flushed.
"I don't know about that. The sight of that lake that wasn't a
lake made me forget for the moment that I was thirsty," answered
Emma spiritedly.
The Chinaman's shrill call for supper sounded while they were
still talking. The girls, now greatly refreshed, turned campward
and sat down on the ground to eat "poisoned pig," as Hippy Wingate
had named the bacon with its bitter alkaline taste.
"I fear we are forgetting that we still are without water,"
reminded Grace after they had finished their supper, feeling more
like themselves than at any time in the last two days.
"Don't throw a monkey-wrench in the machinery," begged Hippy.
"Let's live while the living is good, and die when we haven't
anything else to do."
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