"Imagination, my dear," she said, with positiveness. But Jess still shuddered and seemed under the influence of some strange fear.
"It was not imagination, Peggy. It wasn't it really wasn't."
"Well, we'll look in the morning and if we find tracks we shall know that you are right, and we'll get the boys back for a while anyhow," reassured Peggy.
But in the morning it was Alverado who came to the tent and in an excited voice asked to see "missee" at once.
Peggy hastily completed dressing and emerged, leaving Jess still asleep. Something warned her that it would be best not to arouse her chum just then.
"What is it, Alverado?" she asked, as the Mexican, betraying every mark of agitation, hastened to her side.
"Santa Maria, missee," breathed the Mexican, "water almost all gone!"
"The water is almost all gone?" quavered Peggy, beginning to sense what was coming.
"Yes, missee. Me go there this morning and—Madre de Dios—the water hole almost empty."
"Were there any tracks?" inquired Peggy anxiously.