Suddenly Keith halted, bringing his pony's head sharply about, so that
the two faced one another. The wind was rising, hurling clouds of sand
into their eyes, and the plainsman held one hand before his face.
“There's no need of keeping up a water trail any longer,” he said
quietly. “By all the signs we're in for a sand storm by daylight, and
that will cover our tracks so the devil himself couldn't follow them.
Got a water bag on your saddle?”
“I reck'n dis am one, sah.”
Keith felt of the object Neb held forth.
“Yes, and a big one, too; fill it and strap it on tight; we've got a
long, dry ride ahead.”
“Whar' yo' propose goin', Massa Jack?”
“To the 'Bar X' on the Canadian. I've worked with that outfit. They'll
give us whatever we need, and ask no questions; I don't know of anything
in between. It's going to be a hard ride, boy, and mighty little to eat
except what I saved from supper.”
“How far am it to dis yere 'Bar X'?”
“A hundred and fifty miles as the crow flies, and sand all the way,
except for the valley of Salt Fork. Come on now, and keep close, for
it's easy to get lost in these sand hills.”
Keith had ridden that hundred and fifty miles of sandy desolation
before, but had never been called upon to make such a journey as this
proved to be. He knew there was little to fear from human enemies, for
they were riding far enough east of the Santa Fé trail to be out of the
path of raiding parties, while this desert country was shunned by Indian
hunters. It consisted of sand hill after sand hill, a drear waterless
waste where nothing grew, and amid the dread sameness of which a
traveller could only find passage by the guidance of stars at night
or the blazing sun by day. To the eye mile after mile appeared
exactly alike, with nothing whatever to distinguish either distance or
direction--the same drifting ridges of sand stretching forth in
every direction, no summit higher than another, no semblance of green
shrubbery, or silver sheen of running water anywhere to break the dull
monotony--a vast sandy plain, devoid of life, extending to the horizon,
overhung by a barren sky.
They had covered ten miles of it by daybreak, their ponies travelling
heavily, fetlock deep, but could advance no further. With the first tint
of rose in the east the brooding storm burst upon them in wild desert
fury, the fierce wind buffeting them back, lashing their faces with
sharp grit until they were unable to bear the pain. The flying sand
smote them in clouds, driven with the speed of bullets. In vain they lay
flat, urging their ponies forward; the beasts, maddened and blinded by
the merciless lashing of the sand, refused to face the storm. Keith,
all sense of direction long since lost, rolled wearily from the saddle,
burrowed under the partial shelter of a sand dune, and called upon Neb
to follow him. With their hands and feet they made a slight wind-break,
dragging the struggling ponies into its protection, and burrowed
themselves there, the clouds of sand skurrying over them so thick as
to obscure the sky, and rapidly burying them altogether as though in a
grave. Within an hour they were compelled to dig themselves out, yet it
proved partial escape from the pitiless lashing. The wind howled like
unloosed demons, and the air grew cold, adding to the sting of the grit,
when some sudden eddy hurled it into their hiding place. To endeavor
further travel would mean certain death, for no one could have guided a
course for a hundred feet through the tempest, which seemed to suck the
very breath away. To the fugitives came this comfort--if they could not
advance, then no one else could follow, and the storm was completely
blotting out their trail.
It was three o'clock before it died sufficiently down for them to
venture out. Even then the air remained full of sand, while constantly
shifting ridges made travel difficult. Only grim necessity--the
suffering of the ponies for water, and their own need for soon reaching
the habitation of man and acquiring food--drove them to the early
venture. They must attain the valley of the Salt Fork that night,
or else perish in the desert--there remained no other choice. Tying
neckerchiefs over their horses' eyes, and lying flat themselves, they
succeeded in pressing slowly forward, winding in and out among the
shifting dunes, with only the wind to guide them. It was an awful trail,
the hoofs sinking deep in drifting sand, the struggling ponies becoming
so exhausted that their riders finally dismounted, and staggered forward
on foot, leading them stumbling blindly after. Once the negro's horse
dropped, and had to be lashed to its feet again; once Keith's pony
stumbled and fell on him, hurling him face down into the sand, and he
would have died there, lacking sufficient strength to lift the dead
weight, but for Neb's assistance. As it was he went staggering blindly
forward, bruised, and faint from hunger and fatigue. Neither man spoke;
they had no breath nor energy left to waste; every ounce of strength
needed to be conserved for the battle against nature. They were fighting
for life; fighting grimly, almost hopelessly, and alone.
About them night finally closed in, black and starless, yet fortunately
with a gradual dying away of the storm. For an hour past they had been
struggling on, doubting their direction, wondering dully if they were
not lost and merely drifting about in a circle. They had debated this
fiercely once, the ponies standing dejectedly, tails to the storm, Neb
arguing that the wind still blew from the south, and Keith contending
it had shifted into the westward. The white man won his way, and they
staggered on uncertain, the negro grasping the first pony's tail to keep
from being separated from his companion. Some instinct of the plains
must have guided them, for at last they dragged themselves out from the
desert, the crunching sand under foot changing into rock, and then to
short brittle grass, at which the ponies nibbled eagerly. The slope led
gradually downward, the animals scenting water, and struggling to break
away. Swaying in their saddles, the riders let them go, and they never
stopped until belly deep in the stream, their noses buried. The
men shivered in their saddles, until, at last satisfied, the ponies
consented to be forced back up the bank, where they nibbled at the short
tufts of herbage, but in a manner expressive of weariness. Keith flung
himself on the ground, every muscle of his body aching, his exposed
flesh still smarting from the hail of sand through which they had
passed.
He had not the slightest conception as to where they were, except
he knew this must be the Salt Fork. Utterly confused by the maze
of shifting dunes, through whose intricacies they had somehow found
passage, the blackness of the night yielded no clue as to their point
of emergence. The volume of water in the stream alone suggested that in
their wanderings they must have drifted to the eastward, and come out
much lower down than had been originally intended. If so, then they
might be almost directly south of Carson City, and in a section with
which he was totally unacquainted. One thing was, however, certain--they
would be compelled to wait for daylight to ascertain the truth, and
decide upon their future movements. There was another barren, sandy
stretch of desolation lying between this isolated valley and that of
the Canadian, and their horses would never stand to be pushed forward
without both rest and food. As to themselves--they had eaten their
last crumb long since, but this was not the first time both had known
starvation.
Keith arose reluctantly, and removed the saddles from the animals,
hobbling them so they could graze at will. Neb was propped up beneath
an out-cropping of the bank, which partly protected him from the wind, a
mere hulk of a shadow. Keith could not tell whether he slept or not, but
made no effort to disturb him. A moment he stared vacantly about into
the black silence, and then lay down, pillowing his head upon a saddle.
He found it impossible to sleep, the chill of the wind causing him to
turn and twist, in vain search after comfort, while unappeased hunger
gnawed incessantly. His eyes ranged about over the dull gloom of the
skies until they fell again to the earth level, and then he suddenly sat
up, half believing himself in a dream--down the stream, how far away
he could not judge, there gleamed a steady, yellowish light. It was no
flicker of a camp fire, yet remained stationary. Surely no star could be
so low and large; nor did he recall any with that peculiarity of color.
If such a miracle was possible in the heart of that sandy desert he
would have sworn it was a lamp shining through a window. But he had
never heard of any settler on the Salt Fork, and almost laughed at the
thought, believing for the instant his brain played him some elfish
trick. Yet that light was no illusion; he rubbed his eyes, only to see
it more clearly, convinced now of its reality. He strode hastily across,
and shook Neb into semi-consciousness, dragging him bodily up the bank
and pointing down stream.
“Do you see that?” he inquired anxiously. “There, straight ahead of
you?”
The negro stared, shaking with cold, and scarcely able to stand alone.
“Maybe it am de moon, Massa Jack,” he muttered thickly, “or a goblin's
lantern. Lawd, I don't jest like de looks ob dat ting.”
“Well, I do,” and Keith laughed uneasily at the negro's fears. “All I
wanted to know was if you saw what I saw. That's a lamp shining through
a window, Neb. What in heaven's name it can be doing here I am unable to
guess, but I'm going to find out. It means shelter and food, boy, even
if we have to fight for it. Come on, the horses are safe, and we'll
discover what is behind that light yonder.”