en he had to halt. The
burning white day passed, and likewise the night, with its white stars
shining so pitilessly cold and bright.

Cameron measured the water in his canteen by its weight. Evaporation
by heat consumed as much as he drank. During one of the rests, when he
had wetted his parched mouth and throat, he found opportunity to pour a
little water from his canteen into Warren's.

At first Cameron had curbed his restless activity to accommodate the
pace of his elder comrade. But now he felt that he was losing
something of his instinctive and passionate zeal to get out of the
desert. The thought of water came to occupy his mind. He began to
imagine that his last little store of water did not appreciably
diminish. He knew he was not quite right in his mind regarding water;
nevertheless, he felt this to be more of fact than fancy, and he began
to ponder.

When next they rested he pretended to be in a kind of stupor; but he
covertly watched Warren. The man appeared far gone, yet he had
cunning. He cautiously took up Cameron's canteen and poured water into
it from his own.

This troubled Cameron. The old irritation at not being able to thwart
Warren returned to him. Cameron reflected, and concluded that he had
been unwise not to expect this very thing. Then, as his comrade
dropped into weary rest, he lifted both canteens. If there were any
water in Warren's, it was only very little. Both men had been enduring
the terrible desert thirst, concealing it, each giving his water to the
other, and the sacrifice had been useless.

Instead of ministering to the parched throats of one or both, the water
had evaporated. When Cameron made sure of this, he took one more
drink, the last, and poured the little water left into Warren's
canteen. He threw his own away.

Soon afterward Warren discovered the loss.

"Where's your canteen?" he asked.

"The heat was getting my water, so I drank what was left."

"My son!" said Warren.

The day opened for them in a red and green hell of rock and cactus.
Like a flame the sun scorched and peeled their faces. Warren went
blind from the glare, and Cameron had to lead him. At last Warren
plunged down, exhausted, in the shade of a ledge.

Cameron rested and waited, hopeless, with hot, weary eyes gazing down
from the height where he sat. The ledge was the top step of a ragged
gigantic stairway. Below stretched a sad, austere, and lonely valley.
A dim, wide streak,