" sputtered poor Binney. "But somehow water always
seems to take to me, and I can get nearly drowned when nobody else can
find a drop to drink. As for that mule, I believe he thinks I wouldn't
know how to get off his back if he didn't pitch me off."

In less than a minute after the boys got back with their report of
water, half the men in camp were hastening towards it, and the entire
herd of animals, in charge of a couple of teamsters, was galloping madly
in the same direction. The ponds were the result of a heavy local rain
of the night before; and, within a couple of days, would disappear in
the sandy soil as completely as though they had never existed; but they
served an admirable purpose, and the whole party was grateful to Binney
Gibbs's mule for discovering them.

So refreshed were the men by their unexpected bath, and so strengthened
were the animals by having plenty of water with both their evening and
morning meals, that the survey of the following day covered twenty-four
miles. It was the biggest day's work of transit and level on record, and
could only have been accomplished under extraordinary circumstances.

This was the hardest day of the three to bear. The heat of the sun,
shining from an unclouded sky, was intolerable. As far as the eye could
reach there was no shadow, nor any object to break the terrible monotony
of its glare. A hot wind from the south whirled the light soil aloft in
suffocating clouds of dust. The men of the three divisions were becoming
desperate. They knew that this killing pace could not be maintained much
longer, and the twenty-four mile run was the result of a tremendous
effort to reach the Arkansas River that day.

From each eminence, as they crossed it, telescope, field-glasses, and
straining eyes swept the sky-line in the hope of sighting the longed-for
river. Late in the afternoon some far away trees and a ribbon of light
were lifted to view against the horizon by the shimmering heat waves;
but this was at once pronounced to be only the tantalizing vision of the
mirage.

So, in a dry camp, the exhausted men and thirsty animals passed the
night. The latter, refusing to touch the parched grass or even their
rations of corn, made the hours hideous with their cries, and spent
their time in vain efforts to break their fastenings that they might
escape and seek to quench their burning thirst.

But even this night came to an end; and, with the first eastern streaks
of pink and