down side by side, knowing that a step at night
might mean instant blindness.

The cactus never moves, not even in a storm. There was not a breath of
wind to-night. The thick dull green plant-trees looked as solid as
stone, a petrified forest. The sky had never seemed so high above, the
stars so hard and bright.

Adan moistened his lips with his tongue. "Do you feel that you can last
another day?" he asked.

"I expect to die of old age."

"Well, if you do, it won't be the fault of the Mojave desert. You have
courage, and so have I; but this is worse than all--Do you feel that?"

"I have felt it many times before, to-day. It is said that parts of the
Mojave shake all the time."

"We can swear to that. Supposing a great shake came, how could we get
out of this?"

"We are as well here as anywhere. Let us sleep, and rise with the sun."

But although he spoke confidently, almost contemptuously, he was
possessed with a wild desire to spring to his feet and fight his way
out of this terrible prison. He had seen a huge fish flounder in a net,
and looked on callously. He should never witness such another sight
without a responsive thrill of horror. Were he paralysed from crown to
heel he could not be more helpless in this thicket of needles. The vast
unpeopled desert had been bad enough, but it had been intoxicating
liberty to this. Tired as he was, he moved his hands and feet
constantly; supineness was impossible. He wondered how men felt when in
prison, and vowed that when he held the law in his hands he would
invent some other way of punishment. For his part he would rather be
shot at once.

Being young and healthy, he fell asleep after a time. When he awoke the
sky was grey, the stars had gone. He shook Adan.

"There is no sunrise to be seen from this place," he said, "but I am
sure of the direction now. I took note of that big cactus ahead, last
night--Hist!"

"Dios de mi alma!" whispered Adan, his tongue rolling out. "In this
place! It is worse than earthquake."

Nothing was to be seen from where they stood, but from no great
distance came the faint hollow rattle which strikes terror to man in
the wilderness. The volume of sound was suddenly augmented: there
appeared to be a duet. Immediately it was supplemented by a loud
furious hissing; a moment later by a whirr and impact.

"There are two, and they are fighting," whispered Adan, his eyes
bulging.

Roldan advanced softly to an aperture between two lea