ing and
walking and we'll just _have_ to come to something, some time. And
there'll be people there and they'll tell us how to go."

Tonio seemed so sure of this that Tita was a little comforted. They
walked for a very long time--hours it seemed to her--before Tita spoke
again.

[Illustration]

Then she said, "There's a big black cloud, and the sun is lost in it,
and it's going to rain, and we aren't anywhere at all yet!"

They had got down to level ground by this time and were walking through
a great field of maguey[18] plants. The maguey is a strange great
century-plant that grows higher than a man's head. When it gets ready to
blossom the center is cut out and the hollow place fills with a sweet
juice which Mexicans like to drink. Tonio knew this and thought perhaps
he could get a drink in that way.

So he cut down a hollow-stemmed weed with his machete and made a pipe
out of it. Then he climbed up on the plant that had been cut and stuck
one end of his pipe into the juice, and the other into his mouth. When
he had had enough, he boosted Tita up and she got a drink too. This made
them feel better, and they walked on until they had passed the maguey
plantation and were out in the open fields once more.

III

The sky grew darker and darker, and there were queer shapes all around
them. Giant cacti with their arms reaching out like the arms of a cross
loomed up before them. There were other great cacti in groups of tall
straight spines, and every now and then a palm tree would spread its
spiky leaves like giant fingers against the sky.

[Illustration]

Suddenly there was a great clap of thunder, "It's the beginning of the
rains," said Tonio.

"Shall we--shall we--be drowned--do you think?" wept Tita. "It's almost
night."

Tonio was really a brave boy, but it is no joke to be lost in such
country as that, and he knew it.

Tonio was almost crying, too, but he said, "I'll climb the first tree I
can get up into and look around." He tried to make his voice sound big
and brave, but it shook a little in spite of him.

Soon they came to a mesquite tree. There were long bean-like pods
hanging from it. Tonio climbed the tree and threw down some pods. They
were good to eat. Tita gathered them up in her rebozo,[19] while Tonio
gazed in every direction to see if he could see a house or shelter of
any kind.

"I don't see anything but that hill over there," he called to Tita. "It
is shaped like a great mound and s