s had
soaked down and through. The thousand-foot roof had a sprung a leak.
Three separate and distinct streams of water ran as from spigots. I
lowered my torch. The canvas tarpaulin shone with wet, and in its
exact centre glimmered a pool of water three inches deep and at least
two feet in diameter.

"Well, I'll be," I began. Then I remembered those three wending their
way along a wet and disagreeable trail, happy and peaceful in
anticipation of warm blankets and a level floor. I chuckled and sat on
my heels out of the drip.

First came Jed Parker, his head bent to protect the fire in his pipe.
He gained the very centre of the cave before he looked up.

Then he cast one glance at each bed, and one at me. His grave,
hawk-like features relaxed. A faint grin appeared under his long
moustache. Without a word he squatted down beside me.

Next the Cattleman. He looked about him with a comical expression of
dismay, and burst into a hearty laugh.

"I believe I said I was sorry for those other fellows," he remarked.

Windy Bill was the last. He stooped his head to enter, straightened
his lank figure, and took in the situation without expression.

"Well, this is handy," said he; "I was gettin' tur'ble dry, and was
thinkin' I would have to climb way down to the creek in all this rain."

He stooped to the pool in the centre of the tarpaulin and drank.

But now our torches began to run low. A small dry bush grew near the
entrance. We ignited it, and while it blazed we hastily sorted a
blanket apiece and tumbled the rest out of the drip.

Our return without torches along the base of that butte was something
to remember. The night was so thick you could feel the darkness
pressing on you; the mountain dropped abruptly to the left, and was
strewn with boulders and blocks of stone. Collisions and stumbles were
frequent. Once I stepped off a little ledge five or six feet--nothing
worse than a barked shin. And all the while the rain, pelting us
unmercifully, searched out what poor little remnants of dryness we had
been able to retain.

At last we opened out the gleam of fire in our cave, and a minute later
were engaged in struggling desperately up the slant that brought us to
our ledge and the slope on which our fire burned.

"My Lord!" panted Windy Bill, "a man had ought to have hooks on his
eyebrows to climb up here!"

We renewed the fire--and blessed the back-load of mesquite we had
packed up earlier in t