“Then go in a different direction. You cannot go with us.”
Mr. Silverthorn produced his red handkerchief, and rubbed his eyes again.
“It is a hard, cold world!” he said. “I am a very unfortunate man.”
“Perhaps you are; but I don’t think you deserve to be very fortunate. Just make up your mind that you are not going to travel with us. Had you behaved honorably, and not repaid kindness by theft, we would have allowed you to remain with us for a time; but now it is impossible.”
“I shall starve, and be found a wretched corpse by the wayside,” moaned Dionysius.
“Let him have some provisions, Tom,” said Mrs. Cooper, who was naturally compassionate. She had given up the idea that he was a truly good man, but she was not willing that he should be left quite unprovided for.
He made up a small parcel of provisions, and handed them to Dionysius Silverthorn, who sat down on a stump, while the little caravan pushed on.
“That’s the strangest sort of man I ever encountered,” said Tom. “I wonder whether we’ll ever see him again.”
Some days later the party reached the great salt plains dreaded by all overland travellers. The sight of the vast, white prairies, utterly destitute of vegetation, with no plant or shrub visible, and no evidence that any had ever existed, was depressing enough.
“If we should get out of provisions or water here, Heaven help us!” said Tom apprehensively.
“How far will we have to go before we reach the borders of the plain?” asked Grant.
“I don’t know, but I have heard that it is very extensive.”
“That is what makes me anxious. Our supply is quite scanty.”
“And there is no chance to replenish it here?”
“Don’t tell mother,” he said. “It would make her worry. It will be time for her to learn it if worse comes to worst.”
On the sixth day they were startled by a sight calculated to increase their fears.
It was a stranded wagon, with three gaunt, emaciated bodies stretched near it, all of them quite dead. There were two men and a woman.
“They must have died of hunger, or thirst, or both,” whispered Tom.
“What can have happened to them?” asked Mrs. Cooper compassionately.
“Perhaps they were weak, and unable to go farther,” said Tom evasively.
“It seems terrible that they should be exposed to the elements. Suppose some wild beasts should come and mangle their bodies.”