The boys had eaten nothing since early in the day, for after they had become so thirsty they could not endure the thought of dry food. And they ate very little the day before while in the jail, for even when there was water to assist, the food they had was very unpalatable. So their strength was failing greatly, though they hardly realized it, even unconsciously, and certainly did not think about it, in their frenzy to reach the mouth of the cañon where they expected to find water.
The two raced on at a speed which, under ordinary conditions, and without the stimulus of an overpowering desire, would have soon exhausted them. They kept the trail in the dark with the instinct that is shown by animals, rather than by any exercise of reason, and they paid no attention to its direction so long as they were advancing, as they supposed, to water. With the terrible disappointment they had experienced in finding a dry wash where they had expected a stream, their desire for water had increased so greatly as to be fairly consuming, and left no room for any other thought.
Suddenly Sidney, who was in the lead, stopped short,—so suddenly in his swift course that his brother plunged forcibly against him. When Raymond had recovered his balance he asked anxiously, in a strained, unnatural voice,—
“What’s the matter, Sid?”
“See that trail!” replied Sidney.
Raymond stooped and peered at the ground in the darkness. The trail turned back at a sharp angle and ascended in almost the opposite direction, plainly the first turn of a switchback that climbed the mountain.
“That means we’re on the wrong road,” said Sidney. “I’m sure the road we want doesn’t go up over the mountain like that, and, anyway, we shan’t find water this way.”
“Then we’ll have to go back,” said Raymond in a hopeless tone, “and hunt for another trail.”
“It’s a long way,” said Sidney doubtfully. “I think we must have been tramping fully two hours, and after we found another trail we’d have to follow it up to water, maybe two hours longer. I doubt if we are equal to that.”
With the new disappointment, after the great exertion that had preceded it, the boys had nearly collapsed. Their legs gave way under them and they sank to the ground.