Bloom of Cactus

the girl's tightened. She

n't stand the pace. That poison is no j

ht about the poison. He could endure the severe pain of his wounded hand, but he was still we

he permitted her to help him

t up the small one and her own rifle, and started off in lead of the pony. Her easy swinging stride, though seemingly unhurried

llow wash that brought them around to the west side of a ridge. Under cover of the gaunt

iant sahuaro. The fluted, leafless stems of these high-towering cactus candelabras bristle

stride. Her movements seemed as lacking in effort as the lope of a coyote or the bound of a cat. Lennon would n

ut need of much water. Lennon, though riding, was no less parched than the girl. He was fresh from a moist climate, and the Gila monster poi

For the first time since the stop in the mesquite, Carmena halted her quick advance. But it was not to rest. The feverish crimson of Lennon's face sobered her reassuring sm

," she warned. "Then, if only we can hold our

dollars. "How about try

one. "Be ready to tie your neckerchief ove

ed up clouds of alkali dust that hung about the fugitives like thick smoke. The impalpable powder penetr

a thick-stemmed cactus. Lennon, half delirious from fever, sought to spring off, with the vague idea of forcing her to ride. He s

at Lennon. "If he'd made

l his head lay in the small blot of shade made by a cactus stem. Half an hour passed before he was able to get back into the saddle. Bu

d or by growths of cactus and thorn scrub from any eyes that might be peering across the Basin. As the sun sank nearer to the western rim of buttes and mes

f broken hills. Carmena dragged herself wearily up over an out-thrust spur ridge. Lennon was swaying in the saddl

er over a ledge. Far to the rear, across the shadow-streaked waste, her anxious eyes sig

thirst-harshened voice. "The

did not look back at him. She was turning into the mouth of a wash that appeared to head over toward the far side of the hills. Ha

rrying as far as she could up the arroyo. She then changed from her boots to the long-legged moccasins that she had hidden in

turned the pony and carefully led him at an easy angle up a flight of solid step ledges on the side of the a

eased Lennon down out of the saddle. Water, trickled a few drops at a time between his cracked lips, graduall

A half pint more she used to rinse her own mouth and moisten t

ey lay silently mouthing and chewing the greasy fat, their rifles ready and their ears alert for the

ound the canteens-figured we'd gone desperate with thirst and he

ged himself

If you'd leave me here-I'm only a

and pushed him aro

Count on me to out-travel the pony till sun-up. Get on

so serious that she had to help him into the saddle. With t

inst its loss, he thrust it into his cartridge belt like a pistol. After this he drowsed off again into a half to

A bleak gray light was filtering over the eastern rim of mesas down into the blackness of the Basin. Dry

dding along, with one backward-dragged hand noosed in the reins of the weary pony. The gray light gr

to

her. She tottered and sank down and lay still. Lennon dropped out of the saddle to bend over her. Like the knees of the p

yes gazed up at Lennon, wide wi

red. "No chance for both-after sun-

y a few drops were left when she managed to thrust it away. He put

he commanded. "I w

nabled her, with his help, to pull herself into the saddle. Lennon caug

esas of the Basin were now only a short distance ahead. But already his swollen tongue was beginning

g beside the pony more than a hundred paces when a jerk on the reins headed the weary beast around into the mouth of a broad ca?on. Ca

patch was water-a tiny spring that seeped from a horizontal crevice between the stratas of rock-but its trickle was sp

suffering. But they could not suck up enough water to quench their terrible thir

e fled from him, his eyes were peering around wi

nd came back with a handful of dry clay. This he spread out upon the least tilted of the wet ledge

ping hatful of the dry clay. Before many minutes they had built a little

here he could look out into the Basin. Carmena lingered at the spring to water the pony and fill the ca

in which she held

it, after al

Close shave-but worth the risk. I know

ht a deeper red into L

ot," he protested. "And there's this

irl s

d. But it won't hurt to show those bronchos the range o

r more than a mile away a dozen or more riders

s a rock. The first bullet raised a puff of dust a little to the left of the Indians. The second must

dashed behind a cactus. The rest of the Apaches wrenched their ponies about and raced to get back beyond range

less they crawl up afoot. Some will ride around and climb the m

iders. When he came running back into the ca?on mouth Carmena had the canteen swu

was carefully scraped off the ledge and the clay covered with a loose boulder. The Apaches