"What's that disease they have down south?" asked Walter. "I heard the Professor and the postmaster talking about it back in Eureka."
"You mean the—the hook-worm disease?" grinned the guide.
"That's it. That's what Chunky's got. When a fellow is too lazy to do anything but eat, they say he's got the—the——"
"The hook——" finished the guide.
"That's what he ought to get," agreed Ned.
"Gentlemen, gentlemen!" corrected the Professor. "This is not a seemly topic for table discussion."
"But we eat pigs' feet," suggested Stacy in wide-eyed innocence.
The meal finished, amid laughter and jest, the party stowed their belongings, and after a brief rest, pushed on, having decided that they would feel the heat less in the saddle.
At sundown the travelers were still some distance from the water hole for which the guide was making.
"We'll have to go on," he said. "We may have to ride some time after dark."