About three o'clock in the afternoon they stopped in the shade where a rivulet fell over a small cataract.
"Aren't you hungry?" asked Ethel, after they had drunk from the brook.
"I don't know. I hadn't thought of it particularly," replied her companion. "Let's see, the last time I ate was in a farmhouse north of Houston. That was eight days ago. When have you last eaten?"
"Yesterday morning," replied the girl.
"Then you are probably hungrier than I am."
With their conversation and the murmur of the waterfall they had failed to detect the approach of two cavalry officers, who, walking their tired mounts, had come up unheeded.
"Hey! look at the beauty in breeches!" called one of the approaching men.
"Her for mine," returned the other.