very confusing."

"Right place? Yes, look there; you can see our trail."

"Yes," replied Chris thoughtfully, as he bent down over his saddle-bow,
"and--Ugh! Look there!"

"Eh? See snakes?" cried Griggs excitedly.

"No, but look there; surely all those windings in the sand were made by
them."

"To be sure. Oh yes, we're in the right spot, without a doubt. Then I
tell you what. We can't see very far away any way amongst these
dotted-about stones; there must be a sharp slope somewhere near, perhaps
the edge of a precipice, or great hole in the ground."

"Crater of a volcano, perhaps," cried Chris.

"That's it, lad; the one that played at pitch-and-toss with all these
blocks of stone, and threw them all over the place."

"Then where is the hole?" said Chris.

"I dunno; somewhere about," said Griggs thoughtfully, as he looked
about, peering in among the rocks.

"I shouldn't wonder," said Chris, as thoughtfully, "if it is quite close
here, and when the mule kicked off the tubs they went rolling down into
it and were lost."

"Oh, don't say that, boy!" cried Griggs excitedly. "You don't think of
what value that drop of water may be to us now."

"Oh yes, I do. I'm so thirsty; but I say, Griggs, suppose the hole into
which they have rolled is the one that the snakes live in."

"Not it; they live in little holes and cracks just big enough for them
to creep into. Well, I don't know where the things have gone. Look
sharp and find 'em; your eyes are younger than mine. We shall have the
doctor after us directly to physic us both for not finding them."

"Hurrah!" cried Chris. "There they are!"

"Where? I can't see from here."

"Come nearer this way," said Chris, easing his horse off to the right.
"There, just at the foot of that great block."

"And hurrah the second!" cried Griggs, as soon as he had pressed his
horse into the right position. "I couldn't have seen them from where I
was even if we had been closer. My word! They rolled a good way,
didn't they?"

"No; they couldn't, because they are chained together so that they hung
across the pack-saddle. The mule must have galloped round that way when
he kicked them off."

"Yes, I suppose you're right. Come along; I'll sling 'em across my tit
and walk back."

Griggs sprang off his mustang, and was in the act of passing the reins
over the animal's head, when Chris made a snatch at his collar and held
on.

"What did you do that for?" cried Gri