sparkling in the sunlight. It looked very clear and refreshing.

"I thought and thought, and the more I thought the more hopeless it
seemed to me to plan a way to get down alive. There was one ladder still
standing,--the second one,--but there was a space of some thirty feet
before I could reach it. I had absolutely nothing, not even a string, to
aid me in getting down.

"There was no use hoping for help from any one, for the place was rarely
visited, and it might be weeks before any person would discover that I
was there. I was getting more thirsty all the time, and, at last, I
hated to go to the mouth of the cave, hot as it was inside, because the
sight of the water nearly drove me mad. I amused myself by occasionally
taking a shot at Antonio. I had his range down pretty fine, now, and
rarely missed him. It was getting late, and the sun had long since sunk
out of sight. Above the mountains there was one tall peak which I could
see up the canyon. It stood out in the sunlight bright and shining, even
after the canyon had become quite dark.

"As the sun sank lower and lower the darkness crept gradually up until
only the very top was left a shining point. For a few minutes it shone a
fiery red and then the light was gone like a huge torch which flickers
and goes out.

"Then the night noises commenced: the incessant, maddening croaking of
the frogs and now and then an owl.

"Did you ever hear the frogs in Arizona?"

I responded in the affirmative.

"Well, then, you know something about what they sound like, and know
they can give Eastern frogs cards and spades and beat them easy. But you
don't know what they sound like when you are _really_ thirsty!"

"Probably not," I answered.

"Well," continued the curiosity dealer, "I knew nothing could be done
until morning, so I lay down and tried to sleep. I was very nervous and
could not help fearing that in the night I might walk in my sleep or
roll to the mouth of the cave and tumble out. I do not think I really
slept at all, but lay in a half-dazed condition until it was light
enough for me to see things in the canyon below.

"Strange to say, I was not hungry, although I had eaten nothing since
the previous morning. My whole thoughts were concentrated on the one
desire--something to drink! I thought and pondered, trying to think of
some possible way to get down! At one time I thought seriously of
jumping to the ledge below, but I knew that it would be impossible for