The Desert Valley | Page 2

up the ridge. He was a little man and plainly weary; he
walked as though his boots hurt him; he carried a wide, new hat in one
hand; the skin was peeling from his blistered face. From his other hand
trailed a big handkerchief. He was perhaps fifty or sixty. He called
'Whoa!' again, and made what haste he could after his horse.
A moment later a second horse appeared against the sky, following the
man, topping the ridge, passing on. In silhouette it appeared no normal

animal but some weird monstrosity, a misshapen body covered
everywhere with odd wart-like excrescences. Close by, these unique
growths resolved themselves into at least a score of canteens and
water-bottles of many shapes and sizes, strung together with bits of
rope. Undoubtedly the hand which had tied the other knots had
constructed these. This horse in turn sniffed and went forward with a
quickened pace.
Finally came the fourth figure of the procession. This was a girl. Like
the man, she was booted; like him, she carried a broad hat in her hand.
Here the similarity ended. She wore an outdoor costume, a little thing
appropriate enough for her environment. And yet it was peculiarly
appropriate to femininity. It disclosed the pleasing lines of a pretty
figure. Her fatigue seemed less than the man's. Her youth was
pronounced, assertive. She alone of the four paused more than an
instant upon the slight eminence; she put back her head and looked up
at the few stars that were shining; she listened to the hushed voice of
the desert. She drew a scarf away from her neck and let the cooling air
breathe upon her throat. The throat was round; no doubt it was soft and
white, and, like her whole small self, seductively feminine.
Having communed with the night, the girl withdrew her gaze from the
sky and hearkened to her companion. His voice, now remarkably eager
and young for a man of his years, came to her clearly through the
clumps of bushes.
'It is amazing, my dear! Positively. You never heard of such a thing.
The horse, the tall, slender one, ran away, from me. I hastened in
pursuit, calling to him to wait for me. It appeared that he had become
suddenly refractory: they do that sometimes. I was going to reprimand
him; I thought that it might be necessary to chastise him, as sometimes
a man must do to retain the mastery. But I stayed my hand. The animal
had not run away at all! He actually knew what he was doing. He came
straight here. And what do you think he discovered? What do you
imagine brought him? You would never guess.'
'Water?' suggested the girl, coming on.

Something of the man's excitement had gone from his voice when he
answered. He was like a child who has propounded a riddle that has
been too readily guessed.
'How did you know?'
'I didn't know. But the horses must be thirsty. Of course they would go
straight to water. Animals can smell it, can't they?'
'Can they?' He looked to her inquiringly when she stood at his side. 'It
is amazing, nevertheless. Positively, my dear,' he added with a touch of
dignity.
The two horses, side by side, were drinking noisily from a small
depression into which the water oozed slowly. The girl watched them a
moment abstractedly, sighed and sat down in the sand, her hands in her
lap.
'Tired, Helen?' asked the man solicitously.
'Aren't you?' she returned. 'It has been a hard day, papa.'
'I am afraid it has been hard on you, my dear,' he admitted, as his eyes
took stock of the drooping figure. 'But,' he added more cheerfully, 'we
are getting somewhere, my girl; we are getting somewhere.'
'Are we?' she murmured to herself rather than for his ears. And when he
demanded 'Eh?' she said hastily: 'Anyway, we are doing something.
That is more fun than growing moss, even if we never succeed.'
'I tell you,' he declared forensically, lifting his hand for a gesture, 'I
know! Haven't I demonstrated the infallibility of my line of action? If a
man wants to--to gather cherries, let him go to a cherry tree; if he seeks
pearls, let him find out the favourite habitat of the pearl oyster; if he
desires a--a hat, let him go to the hatter's. It is the simplest thing in the
world, though fools have woven mystery and difficulty about it.
Now----'

'Yes, pops.' Helen sighed again and saw wisdom in rising to her feet. 'If
you will begin unpacking I'll make our beds. And I'll get the fire
started.'
'We can dispense with the fire,' he told her, setting to work with the
first knot to come under his fingers. 'There is