eems to be all stone and rock. Perhaps
if we could get up on top of it and look about we could tell where we
are."

"Let's run, then," said Tita.

The children took hold of hands and ran toward the hill. There were
cacti of all kinds around them, and as they ran, the spines caught their
clothes. The hill seemed to get bigger and bigger as they came nearer to
it, and it didn't look like any hill they had ever seen. It was shaped
like a great pyramid and was covered with blocks of stone. There were
bushes growing around the base and out of cracks between the stones.
Tonio tried to climb up but it was so steep he only slipped back into
the bushes, every time he tried.

"Oh, Tonio, maybe it isn't a hill at all," whispered Tita. "Maybe it's
the castle of some awful creature who will eat us up!"

"Well, whatever it is he won't eat me up!" said Tonio boldly. "I'll
stick a cactus down his throat and he'll have to cough me right up if he
tries."

"I'll kick and scream so he'll have to cough me up too," sobbed Tita.

Just then there came a flash of lightning. It was so bright that the
children saw what they hadn't noticed before. It was a hollow place in
the side of the pyramid where a great stone had fallen out, and the dirt
underneath had been washed away, leaving a hole big enough for them to
crawl into, but it was far above their heads.

At last Tonio climbed into a small tree that grew beside it, bent a
branch over, and dropped down into the hollow, holding to the branch by
his hands.

Poor Tita never had felt so lonely in her whole life as she did when she
saw Tonio disappear into that hole! In a minute he was out again and
looking over the edge at her.

"It's all right. You climb up just as I did," he said.

Tita tied the mesquite pods in the end of her rebozo and threw it up to
Tonio. Then she too climbed the little tree and dropped from the branch
into the mouth of the tiny cave.

A hole in the side of a queer pyramid isn't exactly a cheerful place to
be in during a storm, but it was so much better than being lost in a
cactus grove that the children felt a little comforted.

The rain began to fall in great splashing drops, but they were protected
in their rocky house. They ate the mesquite pods for their supper, and
then Tonio said: "Of course, no one will find us to-night, so we'd
better go to sleep. We'll play we are foxes. The animals and birds sleep
in such places all the time and they're not afraid."