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Page 64
"He works just like a dog does when the rabbit season opens,"
declared the lieutenant. "What's he up to?"
"Looking for trouble," suggested Emma.
Hi followed the trail he had picked up some little distance out on
the desert, which the light of the full moon enabled him to do. He
then stood up and gazed at the sky for a brief moment.
"Unsaddle and make camp," he directed tersely.
"Did you find what you expected?" asked Grace.
"Yes. I'll tell you about it as soon as we make camp."
"How's the water?" called Hippy.
"There isn't a drop in the tank, Lieutenant. Ping, you will give
the ponies about a quart apiece from our supply, no more. We will
stake down now."
Camp was quickly made and the bacon was frying over a small,
flickering cook-fire a few moments afterward. Efforts to be merry
at supper that night were a failure, and Hi Lang was unusually
taciturn.
"May we hear the worst now, Mr. Lang?" asked Grace as they
finished the meal.
"As I told you, there is no water in the tank, but the sand is
still moist, showing that there was water there a short time
since."
"Some one must have been rather dry," observed Hippy, but no one
laughed at his humor.
"There probably was not much water left there after the party
before us finished helping themselves, but there would have been
sufficient for us if they had left the tank alone. They tampered
with it, folks!"
"How do you mean, Hi?" questioned Lieutenant Wingate.
"By digging in and poking about in the tank they have managed to
start the water seeping deeper into the ground until it finally
found a new course and disappeared. It's an old Indian trick
they've worked on us."
"Is it possible that men can be so desperate?" wondered Anne
Nesbit.
"Men!" exploded the guide. "They're not men. They're low-down
hounds!"
"Why should they wish to do these things to us?" demanded Nora,
flushing with resentment.
"There were three men in the party this time, one being the same
fellow that has followed us most of the way out here. I don't know
who the others are. It isn't so much the water that's bothering me
as it is that they don't come out and face us if they have a
grudge to settle with us. I'm ready to meet them and I reckon you
folks are too."
"I think it would be a relief to have them do so," agreed Elfreda
Briggs. "This constant tormenting gets on one's nerves after a
time."
"What is your plan? I know you have one, Mr. Lang," spoke up
Grace.
"The clouds are making up in the south, and in a couple of hours
they will hide the moon. It isn't advisable to do anything until
the night gets good and dark, so I suggest that you folks lie down
and get some rest, for we have a long, hard ride ahead of us."
"To-night? Ride to-night?" questioned Emma.
"Yes. Ride and ride hard. Even the lazy burros have got to get a
move on. We must ride all night to-night, and when day dawns we
must be in or near Forty-Mile Canyon. Then let those pirates find
us if they can. They will find us sooner or later, in all
probability, but by that time we shall be doing some stalking on
our own account. You see, they will be expecting to find us here
in the morning, but we shall be far on our journey by then," said
the guide.
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