"Perhaps they have given over lookin' for us," the engineer suggested.
"There's no chance of that. Every square foot of the country will be searched, and sooner or later they'll come across our trail."
"How long will it take us to get over the range?" Neal asked.
"It is impossible to say: but we must keep moving nearly all the time, for the small amount of water we have with us now is the last that'll be seen until we are on the other side."
"I feel as if I could drink the entire supply, and then want more," Teddy said, the knowledge that they were cut off from all means of adding to the store making him thirsty.
"I reckon every one in the party feels much the same way," Cummings replied grimly. "If it was possible to find a stream now and then the journey across the range would not be such a dangerous one."
With the exception of the suggestion he made when they first halted, Jake did not join in the conversation. His eyes had closed in slumber almost instantly after lying down, and during half an hour he was allowed to sleep uninterruptedly.
Then Poyor awakened him, and the weary march was resumed, the advance becoming more difficult each moment as they climbed higher up on the range.
About two hours before nightfall the sun was hidden from view by dense masses of dark clouds, and the boys hailed with joy this relief from the burning heat.
"If we could only have it like this all the time!" Neal exclaimed.