"How about the burros?" asked Tad.
"Let them roam. They'll stay as long as the ponies are here. The pack animals will fill up on sage, after which they will come back to camp to sleep."
All hands began to unpack. The tents were pitched in record time, cots unfolded and preparations for the night made with a skill that comes from long practice in the open.
"What are we to do for a camp-fire?" asked Walter. "There is not a single stick of wood about here."
"Burn the sage," answered the guide.
"That stuff won't burn," retorted Ned.
"Try it."
They did. In an incredibly short time a hot fire was blazing up, on which they piled armfuls of the stunted desert growth.
"Now, get your food ready and I will cook it," said Parry, as the flames began to die down.
When the fire had settled to a bed of hot ashes Tom thrust the bacon directly into the ashes, placing the coffee pot near the center, around and on top of which he heaped the ashes. It was a new method of preparing a meal, and the lads watched the process with keen interest.