first time in two months he whistled; a detail which Cash noted with
a queer kind of smile.

Midnight and the moon riding high in the purple bowl of sky sprinkled
thick with stars; with a little, warm wind stirring the parched weeds as
they passed; with the burros shuffling single file along the dim trail
which was the short cut through the hills to the Bend, Ed taking the
lead, with the camp kitchen wabbling lumpily on his back, Cora bringing
up the rear with her skinny colt trying its best to keep up, and with
no pack at all; so they started on the long, long journey to the green
country.

A silent journey it was for the most part. The moon and the starry
bowl of sky had laid their spell upon the desert, and the two men rode
wordlessly, filled with vague, unreasoning regret that they must go.
Months they had spent with the desert, learning well every little
varying mood; cursing it for its blistering heat and its sand storms
and its parched thirst and its utter, blank loneliness. Loving it too,
without ever dreaming that they loved. To-morrow they would face the
future with the past dropping farther and farther behind. To-night it
rode with them.

Three months in that little, rough-walled hut had lent it an atmosphere
of home, which a man instinctively responds to with a certain clinging
affection, however crude may be the shelter he calls his own. Cash
secretly regretted the thirsty death of his radishes and lettuce which
he had planted and tended with such optimistic care. Bud wondered if
Daddy might not stray half-starved into the shack, and find them gone.
While they were there, he had agreed with Cash that the dog must be
dead. But now he felt uneasily doubtful It would be fierce if Daddy did
come back now. He would starve. He never could make the trip to the Bend
alone, even if he could track them.

There was, also, the disappointment in the Burro Lode claim. As Bud
planned it, the Burro was packing a very light load--far lighter than
had seemed possible with that strong indication on the surface. Cash's
"enormous black ledge" had shown less and less gold as they went into
it, though it still seemed worth while, if they had the capital to
develop it further. Wherefore they had done generous assessment work
and had recorded their claim and built their monuments to mark its
boundaries. It would be safe for a year, and by that time--Quien sabe?

The Thompson claim, too, had not justified any enthusiasm whateve