“Slightly brackish, perhaps, or possibly not at all so. You see before reaching this point it is filtered through sixty or seventy yards of closely packed sand, which takes up all the salt and would take up all other impurities if there were any, as there are not. Suppose you dig for the water, Tom, while the other fellows make camp and pick up wood. It’s very easy digging and it won’t take long. I’m going off a little way to see what there is to see—and to look for the manna I spoke of a while ago.”
So saying, Cal took up his gun and set out inland. It was more than an hour before he returned and the dusk was falling. But to the astonishment of the others a string of young negroes followed close upon his heels, all carrying burdens of some sort, mostly poised upon their heads.
XV
CAL GATHERS THE MANNA
When Cal appeared at the head of his dusky little caravan the others advanced to meet him and bombard him with a rapid fire of questions as to where he had been, and what the negro boys were carrying, and where he had discovered the source of supply, and whatever else their curiosity suggested.
Instead of replying at once he asked.
“Did you find the water, Tom?”