ON TO THE MOUNTAINS.
"Where--where has it gone?" slowly and painfully asked Diamond. "I am
sure I saw it--sure! The lake, the trees, all gone!"
"I told you there was no lake."
"Then--then it must have been a mirage!"
"That is exactly what it was."
With a deep groan of despair Diamond fell back limply on the sand, as
if the last bit of strength and hope had gone from him.
"This ends it!" he gasped. "What's the use of struggling any more! We
may as well give up right here and die!"
"Not much!" cried Merriwell, with attempted cheerfulness. "That is why
I ran you down and dragged you from your wheel."
"What do you mean?"
"I knew the mirage might lure you on and on into the desert, seeming
to flee before you, till at last it would vanish in a mocking manner,
and you, utterly exhausted and spirit-broken, would lie down and die
without another effort."
Jack was silent a few moments.
"And you did all this for me?" he finally asked. "You pursued and
pulled me from my wheel to--to save me?"
"Yes."
Another brief silence.
"Frank."
"Well, Jack?"
"I was mad."
"You looked it."
"My thirst--the sight of what I took to be water--the shadows of the
trees! Ah, yes, I was mad, Frank!"
"Well, it's all over now."
"Yes, it is all over. The jig's up!"
"Nonsense! Get a brace on, old man. We must get to the mountains. It
is our only chance, Jack."
"The mountains! I shall never reach the mountains, Frank. I am done
for--played out!"
"That's all rot, old fellow! You are no more played out than I am. We
are both pretty well used up, but we'll pull through to the mountains
and get a drink of water."
"You never give up."
"Well, I try never to give up."
"Frank, I want you to forgive me for what I said before we saw the
mirage. You know I was making a kick."
"Oh, never mind that! It's all right, Jack."
"I want you to say you forgive me."
"That's dead easy. Of course I forgive you. Think I'm a stiff to hold
a grudge over a little matter like that?"
Diamond looked his admiration from his bloodshot eyes.
"You're all right, Merry," he hoarsely declared. "You always were all
right. I knew it all along. Sometimes I get nasty, for I have a
jealous nature, although I try to hold it in check. I never did try to
hold myself in check in any way till I knew you and saw how you
controlled your tastes and passions. That was a revelation to me,
Merry. You know I hated you at first, but I came to admire you,
despite myself. I have admired you ever since. Sometimes the worst
side of my nature will crop out, but I always know I am wrong. Forgive
me for striking you."
"There, there, old chap! Why are you thinking of such silly things?
You are talking as if you had done me a deadly wrong, and this was
your last chance to square yourself."
"It is my last chance--I am sure of that. I am played out, and I can't
drive that wheel farther. It's no use--I throw up the sponge right
here."
A look of determination came to Frank's face.
"You shall not do anything of the kind!" he cried. "I won't have it,
Jack!"
Diamond did not reply, but lay limp on the ground. Frank put a firm
hand on his shoulder, saying:
"Come, Jack, make a bluff at it."
"No use!"
"I tell you it is! Come on. We can reach the mountains within an
hour."
"The mountains!" came huskily from Diamond's lips. "God knows if there
are any mountains! They, too, may be a mirage!"
"No! no!"
"Think--think how long we have been riding toward them and still they
seemed to remain as far away as they were hours ago."
"That is one of the peculiar effects of the air out here."
"I do not believe any of us will reach the mountains. And if we
should, we might not find water. Those mountains look baked and
barren."
"Remember, I was told how to find water there."
But this did not give the disheartened boy courage.
"I know you were told, but the man who told you said that at times
that water failed. It's no use, Frank, the game is not worth the
candle."
Then it was that Merriwell began to grow angry.
"I am ashamed of you, Diamond!" he harshly cried. "I did think you
were built of better stuff! Where is your backbone! Come, man, you
must make another try!"
"Must?" came rather defiantly from Jack. "I'll not be forced to do
it!"
"Yes, you will!"
The Virginian looked at Frank in astonishment.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"I mean that you will brace up and attempt to reach the mountains with
the rest of us, or I'll give you the blamedest licking you ever
had--and there won't be any apologies afterward, either!"
That aroused Jack somewhat.
"You--you wouldn't do that--now?" he faltered.
"Wouldn't I?" cried Frank, seeming to make preparations to carry out
his threat. "Well, you'll see!"
"But--but----"
"There are no buts about it! Either you get up and make one more
struggle, or I'll have the satisfaction of knowing you are not in
condition to make a struggle when I leave you. This is business, and
it's straight from the shoulder!"
Diamond remonstrated weakly, but Frank seemed in sober earnest.
"I believe it would do you good," he declared. "It would beat a little
sense into you. It's what you want, anyway."
A sense of shame came over Jack.
"If you've got enough energy to give me a licking, I ought to have
enough to make another try for life," he huskily said.
"Of course you have."
"Well, I'll do it. It isn't because I fear the licking, for that
wouldn't make any difference now, but I can make another try for it,
if you can."
Frank dragged the other boy to his feet, and then picked up their
fallen wheels. Jack was so weak that he could scarcely stand, seeming
to have been quite exhausted by his last furious struggle with the boy
who had raced across the desert sands to save his life. Twice Frank
caught him and kept him from falling.
"What's the use?" Diamond hoarsely whispered. "I tell you I can't keep
in the saddle!"
"And I tell you that you must! There are the other fellows, coming
this way. I will signal them to ride toward the mountains, and we will
join them."
Frank made the signal, and the others understood, for they soon turned
toward the mountains again.
Then Merriwell aided Jack in mounting and getting started, mounting
himself after that, and hurrying after the Virginian, whose wheel was
making a very crooked track across the sand.
When it was necessary Frank supported Jack with a hand on the arm of
the dark-faced lad, speaking encouraging words into his ear, urging
him on.
And thus they rode toward the barren-looking Desert Range, where they
must find water or death.
They came to the mountains at last, when the burning sun was hanging a
ball of fire in the western sky. From a distance Merriwell had singled
out Split Peak, which had served as his guide. At the foot of Split
Peak were two water-holes, one on the east and one on the south.
First Frank sought for the eastern water-hole, and he found it.
But it was dry!
Dry, save for the slightest indication of moisture in the sand at the
bottom of the hole.
"I told you so!" gasped Diamond, as he fell to the ground in hopeless
exhaustion. "There is no water here."
"Wait," said Frank, hoarsely. "We'll see if we can find some. Come,
boys; we must scoop out the sand down there in the hole--we must dig
for our lives."
"By golly!" said Toots; "dis nigger's reddy teh dig a well fo'ty foot
deep, if he can fine about fo' swallers ob wattah."
"A well!" muttered Rattleton. "We'll sink a shaft here!"
"Well, I don't know!" murmured Browning.
So they went to work, two of them digging at a time, and, with their
hands, they scooped out the sand down in the water-hole. As they
worked a little dirty water began to trickle into the hole.
"Yum! yum!" muttered Toots, his eyes shining. "Nebber saw muddy wattah
look so good befo'! I done fink I can drink 'bout a barrel ob dat
stuff!"
They worked until quite exhausted, and then waited impatiently for the
water to run into the hole. It rose with disheartening slowness, but
rise it did.
When he could do so, Frank dipped up some of the water with his
drinking cup and gave it to Jack first of all.
Diamond's hands shook so with eagerness that he nearly spilled the
water, and he greedily turned it down his parched throat at a gulp.
"Merciful goodness! how sweet!" he gasped. "More, Frank--more!"
"Wait a bit, my boy. You have had the first drink from this hole. The
others must take their turn now. When it comes around to you again,
you shall have more."
"But there may not be enough to go around!" Jack almost snarled. "What
good do you think a little like that can do a fellow who is dying of
thirst? I must have more--now!"
"Well, you can't have another drop till the others have taken their
turn--not a taste!"
When Frank spoke like that he meant what he said, and Jack knew it.
But the little water he had received had maddened Diamond almost as
much as had the mirage. As Frank turned toward the water-hole, Jack
started to spring upon him, crying:
"We'll see!"
"Hold on!" said Browning, as one of his hands went out and grasped
Diamond. "I wouldn't do that. You are excited. I reckon I'll have to
sit on you, while you cool off."
Then the big fellow took Jack down, and actually sat on him, while the
Virginian raved like a maniac.
"Poor fellow!" said Frank, pityingly. "He has almost lost his reason
by what he has passed through."
One by one the others received some of the water, and then it came
Jack's turn once more. By this time he was silent, but there was a
sullen light in his eyes. When Frank passed him the water in the
drinking cup he shook his head, and refused to take it.
"No!" he muttered. "I won't have it! Drink it all up! You don't care
anything about me! Let me die!"
"Well, hang a fool!" snorted Browning, in great disgust.
"Say, jes' yo' pass dat wattah heah, Marser Frank, an' see if dis
coon'll refuse teh let it percolate down his froat!"
"Yes, give it to Toots!" grated Diamond. "You think more of him than
you do of me, anyway! Give it to him!"
"Don't chool with that fump--I mean don't fool with that chump!"
snapped Rattleton. "Let him have his own way! He's got a bug in his
head; that's what ails him."
"Let him alone, Bruce," said Frank, quietly. "I want to talk to him."
"He struck at you behind your back."
"Never mind; he won't do so again."
"Oh, you don't know!" muttered Diamond.
"Yes, I do," declared Frank, with confidence.
"Never mind us, fellows. I want a little quiet talk with Jack."
They understood him, and the two lads were left alone.