of their eyes they saw the lake march with them. When they finally
turned to the west again it faced them once more. They linked arms
suddenly and trudged on, hungry, parched, beset by superstitious fears,
but not forgetting to turn every half hour and glance at the sun until
he passed the meridian and pointed for the west. And suddenly the lake
seemed to slip behind a wall.

"There is really something there this time," said Roldan, closing one
eye and curving his hand about the other. "It is ugly enough to be
real. It is no use to say how far anything is in this place, but I
should think we would reach it before long."

And long before they did reach it they knew what it was--a thicket of
cacti some two miles long and of unknown depth. The plants were eight
or ten feet high, and the broad thick leaves, spiked, as only the
leaves of the cactus are, looked to be welded together. But that was
from a distance. When the boys reached the thicket they saw that the
plants in reality were some feet apart, although there appeared to be
no end to them. The boys sat down suddenly, their strength deserting
them. They threw their arms forward on their knees and dropped their
heads. For a half hour or more they sat motionless, then Roldan looked
up and fixed his glassy eyes on the forbidding wall, which at close
proximity seemed to girt the horizon.

"If we tried to go round it," he said, "there is no knowing where we
should find ourselves. We had better go straight ahead, if possible. If
it is too thick we can turn back."

"At least we could not see this horrible desert for a while," said
Adan. "I am willing."

"And, who knows? Los Angeles may be just on the other side."

Their utterance was thick. Their veins felt as if packed with lead, not
so much from need of food as need of drink. But they stumbled to their
feet and entered the cactus forest. They were obliged to pursue their
way in single file; the spikes were long, and many of the larger leaves
abutted so obstructively that they were obliged to go down on their
hands and knees and crawl. Nor could they maintain a straight course,
but zig-zagged among the great plants as nature permitted. More than
once they heard the rip of silk, more than once blood sprang through
their skin. Their progress was slow and fraught with peril, their only
consolation that the end must come sooner or later.

Night came suddenly. They were near an open a few feet in
circumference. They lay