"

"A _what_!" gasped the entire group in unison.

"Jes' what I said, a backterian camel," reiterated Pete, striking
another match.

They could all see then that he spoke the truth, astounding as it
seemed. The creature that lay still before them, a bullet through its
brain, was a veritable, undoubted specimen of the Bactrian species.

"But--but--great heavens!" cried Jack, hardly able to believe his eyes,
"how,--what----"

"What on earth is a camel doing out here on the New Mexican desert?"
the professor finished for him.

"Going eight days without a drink," suggested Ralph in an undertone;
but none of the party was in a mood for humor just then.

It was Pete who solved the mystery.

"I've got it," he exclaimed, "and I'm a plum-busted idjut not to have
thought uv it afore; I've hearn about 'em often enough. This here
backterian camel must be one of that bunch of Circus Jesse's."

"Circus Jesse! Who was he, or she?" asked Jack.

"Why, he was a feller what owned a big eastern circus, but owned a
ranch out here as well. It struck him one time that if camels was good
for transportation purposes over the Sahara desert they ought ter be
just as good here. So, what does he do but start a camel express from
Maguez ter Amadillo over the border, with some of the backterians frum
his circus."

"And didn't it work?" asked Ralph.

"No. That is, it did fer a while, till ther novelty wore off, and then
folks went back ter ther old reliable mule or burro. Circus Jesse, he
got so blamed sore, that one fine day he turned the whole shootin'
match of his backterians loose, and packin' his trunk, let the country,
and resolved in futur' ter stick ter his circus."

"Was that long ago?" asked Jack. "I shouldn't have thought the
creatures would have lived long without being recaptured."

"It's about five years since Jesse got out, I reckon," rejoined Pete,
"an' fer a while camel-hunting was a popular sport. By an' by,
however, they got so wary no one could get near 'em, and, except fer a
scare they'd throw inter a prospector now and ag'in, we never heard no
more of 'em. I'd clean fergotten all about 'em, till I made this one
inter cold backterian meat."

"I suppose they found food and water here and regarded the Mesa as
their own property," declared Jack.

"That's about it. This is a place that's seldom visited, and I guess
they just figgered out that they'd found a happy home."

"But what became of the rest of