you
follow it for twenty-five miles you reach Preble's mine. He says he's
trying dry farming this spring. There ain't a living human being, except
a few Injuns, between there and here. Sabez? And they ain't a brute
thing but coyotes, and lizards and maybe wild burros, and so they ain't
no call for a telephone."

Roger looked at the group of buildings across the way. "Is this all
there is to Archer's Springs?"

"Sure, and it's a pretty good little old town, don't forget it. All the
miners in the range south of here trade here. You'd better go across the
street to the Chinaman's and get some breakfast."

Preble's claim lay twenty-five miles northeast. So did the government
land where the Solar plant was to be built. Roger and Ernest discussed
the matter at breakfast and decided to carry Felicia along with them on
the morrow when they started for their own camp.

"And think how surprised Charley will be when you drop in on her,
Felicia," suggested Ernest.

Felicia blinked back the tears and began to nibble her breakfast.

"It's a darn big desert and a darn small town," said Roger. "I wonder if
Austin was right in telling us we could outfit here. Let's ask the
baggage man."

The obliging baggage man pointed out the largest of the sheet-iron,
adobe buildings across the way. "Best trading in a hundred miles," he
said.

With Felicia dancing between them, the two made their way to Hackett's
Supply House. The exterior was not promising, but within was everything
the desert dwellers could need. Working from Austin's list they were
soon supplied with tents, working outfit and tent boards. Hackett, a
stout, slow-speaking man, was not staggered even when Roger asked him to
deliver the goods.

"Expect a lot of freight in a couple of weeks, you say? All right, I'll
send you up with a team and when your freight comes in you can drive it
back again. You can board the horses at Preble's."

Their purchases were complete by noon, but Hackett would not let them
start until morning. "No use," he said, "for tenderfeet to try camping
on a short trip and it would be hard on the little girl. Get a dawn
start and make the trip in one shift."

So they whiled away the afternoon by a tramp over the desert, and after
supper turned Felicia over to the landlady at Delmonico's, the adobe
hotel, which was clean if it was meager. They were sitting in the
office, which boasted a rusty sheet-iron stove, a desk, and a hanging
lamp, when a thi