Suddenly the horse which Sam rode gave a leap forward, and then began to go around in a circle.
"That's bad," murmured Ike in a low voice. "He's beginning to get locoed from want of water."
He urged his own beast up to Sam's, and gave the whirling animal a cut with the quirt. That stopped it for a while, and they went on.
Mexican Pete and Tanker Ike said little. They were men used to the hardships of the West, and it was not the first time they had suffered in crossing the desert. But it was hard for Jack and his chums. Nevertheless, they did not complain, but taking an example from the men, silently rode their horses. The poor beasts must have suffered dreadfully. Tanker Ike, who was riding ahead, suddenly leaped off his horse. At first the boys thought he had seen a water hole, but he merely picked up some pebbles from the sand.
"Put some of these in your mouth and roll them around," he said. "It will help to make the saliva come and keep down your thirst some."
Mexican Pete followed his example, and the boys were about to do likewise, when Budge Rankin, reaching into his pocket, called out:
"Gum!" cried Jack. "Gum! That's the stuff, Budge!"
"The very thing!" added Tanker Ike. "I wonder I didn't think to ask for some. That will be better than the pebbles. Pass it around, young man."
Budge handed out packages of gum, which he was seldom without, and soon all the travelers were busily engaged in chewing it. In a measure it relieved their thirst at once, and their tongues felt less swollen, and not so much like pieces of leather.
"'Stoobad," remarked Budge as he put in a fresh wad.
"That the horses can't chew," replied Budge.
"Hu! I guess it would take a bigger cud than you could muster to satisfy a horse--or a mule," remarked Tanker Ike. "But it's lucky you had it for us. I was feeling pretty bad."
The little diversion caused by the production of the gum and the relief it brought, helped them to pass over several miles in a comfortable fashion. But the terrible thirst did not leave them, and as for the horses and mules, they were half crazed, or "locoed," as Tanker Ike expressed it.
How they traveled the remainder of that day none of them could tell exactly afterward. But they managed to keep on, and just as it was beginning to get dusk there was a sudden movement among the animals.