CHAPTER XI
WITHOUT WATER
At last the hour came when Sidney judged it was dark enough for them to venture out. He did not think it necessary to wait until late at night, for as soon as they could leave the house they would climb a little way up the mountain and then pass along the slope at some distance above the village. Moreover, all the houses opened toward the valley, and like their place of refuge had no windows facing the mountain. It seemed, then, that there would be little danger of discovery as soon as it was dark enough to prevent their being seen at a distance.
The boys rolled up their blankets and disposed of their packs to the best advantage for traveling, then left their shelter with feverish haste in their longing to reach water. The mountain along which they had to pass was bare, as all southern slopes are in Eastern and Central Daghestan. With practically no growth of bushes, and with only broken rocks to retard them, their way was not difficult, even in the dark, and they made good progress.
Sidney again proved himself to be a good prophet, for their departure was not seen, and no one appeared to stop them. They stumbled along in the dark over the rocky surface, and soon were beyond what seemed to be the extreme limit of the village. However, to insure security, they went half a mile farther, and then descended to the valley.
At the foot of the mountain they encountered a well-traveled trail, but as it was plain that they had not yet reached the lowest level of the valley, they decided to continue a little farther on the same line in the hope of finding water. So they went straight forward and soon crossed the wash of a stream, but alas! it was dry. They thought it might be that it was only a tributary wash and that they had not yet come to the main stream, and they went on, only to realize after a little that they were climbing an ascent. That convinced them, with a shock, that they had, indeed, crossed the bottom of the valley without finding water.
“What shall we do, Sid?” asked Raymond with a tremble in his voice.
“We must go back to the trail and follow that up to the mountains. The stream probably doesn’t flow much below the mouth of the cañon, and when we get up there we’ll find it.”
“I hope so,” said Raymond, in a tone that contradicted his words.
They turned back on their course, crossed the wash again, and climbing a gentle rise reached the trail. Turning into that to the left they plodded doggedly on. They had encountered only one trail, and as that was well traveled, they had assumed that it must be the main road into the mountains, therefore the one they wanted. So they followed it without hesitation.
As they proceeded they entered more directly under the brow of the mountains and the darkness increased. The trail was so well defined, however, that they had no difficulty in following it, even when they could not really see the road they were traveling. On and on they went, with only one thought, to hurry forward, the sooner to reach water.