|
|
|
|
|
|
was not hallucinating cabins or disembodied emotions in the desert. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Abby blinked, and the cabin was gone. For no rational reason, except for trusting her intuition, she suddenly felt hope. She sensed survival. She knew her body would soon drink the water it craved. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
She circled the area a few moments longer, then realized this wash was hidden from the wagon train. In fact, it would be difficult for anyone to find between the crevasses of the mountain. She realized that washes originated from runoff from rare rainstorms. This wash formed a groove in the mountain. She walked along it for a while into the pass it created, then grew excited. The wash seemed wide enough for the wagons to pass through. Maybe this would form a route to speed the wagons reaching the other side of the mountainand water. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Arlen and Hunwet returned at dawn the next day, empty-handed. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
''My people cannot spare any water," Hunwet explained, his voice heavy with sorrow. Hunwet's name meant bear in the Cahuillas' language. He had the appearance to Abby of a picture-book Indian, with high cheekbones, a broad nose, and full lips, yet he looked and acted more civilized than some of the white men Abby had known. He wore woven shirts and buckskin pants as did the emigrants he guided. Now there was a haunted expression in his somber ebony eyes that Abby had not seen before. |
|
|
|
|
|