nd in the water sections they would have found a
current. Some of the traders maintained that its real bed was solid,
unfractured rock, many feet below the sand which covered it, which held
the water as in a pipe and let it follow its tendency to seek its level.
The deep sand blotted and hid the meager stream where the bottom was
farther below the sand's surface; but where the porous layer was not so
thick, the volume of water, being larger than that of the sand,
submerged the filling and flowed in plain sight. Some of the more
uncritical held that the water flowed with the periodicity of tides,
which like many other irrational suppositions, seemed to give the
required explanation of the river's peculiarities. There was no doubt,
however, about the porosity of its sandy bed, nor the amount of sand in
it, for even after the most severe and prolonged summer rainstorms,
which filled the river to overflowing, a few days sufficed to dry it up
again and restore its characteristics.

Having full water casks again the hysteria had subsided and the caravan
set out toward the lower spring, which was reached just before
nightfall. Here they found two men comfortably camped, despite the fact
that they were in the country of their implacable foes. At first they
showed a poorly hidden alarm at the appearance of the wagons but,
finding that they aroused no especial interest, they made themselves a
part of the camp and began to get acquainted; but it was noticeable that
they chose the hunters and trappers in preference to the traders, and
carefully ignored the many Mexicans with the train. But no matter how
careful they were in their speech they could not hide their identity,
for the buttons on their torn and soiled clothing all showed the Lone
Star of Texas, and to certain of the plainsmen this insignia made them
cordially welcome. Among the Mexicans it made them just as cordially
hated.

Tom Boyd espied them when the corral had been formed and invited them to
join him and Hank at supper. A few words between the Texans and the two
plainsmen established a close bond between them, and they became friends
the instant Tom mentioned the partner he had lost on the march of the
First Texan Expedition. Hank's careless reference to the treatment his
partner had given Armijo on the streets of Santa Fe caused them to look
carefully around and then, in low voices, tell the two plainsmen about
the events which recently had transpired between the