fore night, but if not we'll ride on a while
anyhow, and maybe we'll find 'em."

They went deeper into the great upland which was half a desert and half
a plain. Occasionally they saw besides the cactus, mesquite and yucca
and some clumps of coarse grass.

"Bunch grass," said Obed, "like that which you find further north, and
mighty good it is, too, for cattle and horses. We'll have plenty of food
for these two noble steeds of ours, and I shouldn't be surprised, too,
if we ran across big game. It's always where the bunch grass grows."

They did not reach wood and water by nightfall, but, riding two hours
longer in a clear twilight, they found both. The plain rose and fell in
deep swells, and in the deepest of the swells to which they had yet to
come they found a trickling stream of clear water, free from alkali,
fringed on either shore with trees of moderate size.

"Here we are," said Obed, "and here we stay till morning. You never know
how fine water looks until you've been a long time without it."

They let their horses drink first, and then, going further up the
stream, drank freely of the water themselves. They found it cold and
good, and they were refreshed greatly. There was also a belt of
excellent grass, extending a hundred yards back on either side of the
stream, and, unsaddling and tethering their horses, they let them graze.
Both Ned and Obed would have liked a fire, but they deemed it dangerous,
and they ate their food cold. After supper, Obed walked up the stream a
little distance, examining the ground on either side of the water. When
he came back he said to Ned:

"I saw animal tracks two or three hundred yards up the creek, and they
were made by big animals. Buffalo range about here somewhere, and we may
see 'em before we get through."

"I wouldn't mind having a shot at a fine buffalo," said Ned. But he was
not very eager about it. He was thinking more then of sleep. Obed, while
thinking of sleep also, was thinking of other things, too, and he was
somewhat troubled in his mind. But he bore himself as a man of cheerful
countenance.

"Now, Ned," he said, "you and I cannot go forever without sleep. We've
been through a good deal and we haven't closed our eyes for thirty-six
hours. I feel as if I had pound weights tied to my eyelids."

"Two-pound weights are tied to mine."

"Then we'll prove the value of my foresight in obtaining the two sets of
blankets by using them at once."

Each lay down bet