The spring was merely a scant dribble of water from a crevice in one of the bluffs. Under it, however, a basin-shaped rock formed a pool. This reservoir had filled, and there was sufficient water for the horses as well as their riders.
The riders, naturally, drank first. Buffalo Bill, Dell, and Cayuse all knelt at the brim and assuaged their thirst at the same time.
“Queer taste to the water, don’t you think?” remarked Dell.
The scout had noticed the acrid taste, but supposed that it was perhaps due to a touch of alkali.
“Do you remember, Cayuse,” Buffalo Bill asked, as he straightened up at the brink of the pool, “whether this particular spring always has this peculiar taste?”
Cayuse shook his head.
“Him Arizona spring all kind tastes, all kinds smell,” observed the boy philosophically. “Better so you drink and be glad what you drink is wet. Huh?”
“I reckon that about hits it,” laughed the scout, leading up his horse.
Bear Paw, the scout’s black charger, nosed about in the pool for some time, slapping the water with his muscular upper lip. Thirsty as he was, for several moments the horse refused to drink, but at last, apparently deciding to make the best of it, took a few sparing swallows.
Silver Heels and Navi acted very much in the same way, but cut short their objections and went to their refreshment much more quickly than had Bear Paw.