The Valiant Runaways [56]
sun leaned
his elbows on the horizon in front of them, leered at the contracted
visages and blinking eyes resolutely facing him, then slid leisurely
down; and night came suddenly. The boys flung themselves on the ground
and slept.
They awoke consumed with hunger and thirst. Their mouths and nostrils
were coated with the fine irritating dust of the desert, scarcely
visible but always felt. But their smarting eyes were greeted by a
refreshing sight: not a half-league before them, directly in their
course, was a lake, a lake as blue as the metallic sky above, and
lightly fringed with palms and orange-trees. Beyond was a forest of
silver leaves--an olive orchard.
"A Mission!" exclaimed Roldan, and even Adan sprang to his feet and
marched westward with some enthusiasm. But alas! although they trudged
with dogged persistence for fully a league, striving to forget the
gnawing at their vitals in the exquisite prospect filling the eye, the
lake seemed to march ahead of them, in perfect time with their weary
feet. Suddenly the two boys paused and faced each other.
"This accursed desert is bewitched," said Roldan. His face was white,
but more with anger than fear; for the first time in his life he
realised the helplessness of man when at the mercy of nature, and he did
not like the sensation. He had a strong, and by this time, well
developed instinct to govern, to bend others to his will, and he swore
now that he would walk out of this desert unharmed if only for the
pleasure of cheating a force mightier than himself. He turned and looked
at the sun.
"We have been going in a wrong direction," he said. "That lake has been
shifting gradually toward the southwest, and taken us nearly a league
out of our course. The first thing we know we will be in Baja
California, where there is nothing but deserts, and they are all on
mountain tops. We must strike north again. I am sure that last night we
were due west of Los Angeles."
"But the lake? the Mission?"
"I do not believe there is any lake. There are things you and I do not
understand in this world--although we are learning--and I believe that
this strange desert has the power to make scenes like the theatres they
who have travelled tell us of. Be sure that lake will disappear like the
city."
They turned north in order to get in line with the sun; and out of the
tail of their eyes they saw the lake march with them. When they finally
turned to the west again it faced them once more. They linked arms
suddenly and trudged on, hungry, parched, beset by superstitious fears,
but not forgetting to turn every half hour and glance at the sun until
he passed the meridian and pointed for the west. And suddenly the lake
seemed to slip behind a wall.
"There is really something there this time," said Roldan, closing one
eye and curving his hand about the other. "It is ugly enough to be real.
It is no use to say how far anything is in this place, but I should
think we would reach it before long."
And long before they did reach it they knew what it was--a thicket of
cacti some two miles long and of unknown depth. The plants were eight or
ten feet high, and the broad thick leaves, spiked, as only the leaves of
the cactus are, looked to be welded together. But that was from a
distance. When the boys reached the thicket they saw that the plants in
reality were some feet apart, although there appeared to be no end to
them. The boys sat down suddenly, their strength deserting them. They
threw their arms forward on their knees and dropped their heads. For a
half hour or more they sat motionless, then Roldan looked up and fixed
his glassy eyes on the forbidding wall, which at close proximity seemed
to girt* the horizon.
"If we tried to go round it," he said, "there is no knowing where we
should find ourselves. We had better go straight ahead, if possible. If
it is too thick we can turn back."
"At least we could not see this horrible desert for a while," said Adan.
"I am willing."
"And, who knows? Los Angeles may be just on the
his elbows on the horizon in front of them, leered at the contracted
visages and blinking eyes resolutely facing him, then slid leisurely
down; and night came suddenly. The boys flung themselves on the ground
and slept.
They awoke consumed with hunger and thirst. Their mouths and nostrils
were coated with the fine irritating dust of the desert, scarcely
visible but always felt. But their smarting eyes were greeted by a
refreshing sight: not a half-league before them, directly in their
course, was a lake, a lake as blue as the metallic sky above, and
lightly fringed with palms and orange-trees. Beyond was a forest of
silver leaves--an olive orchard.
"A Mission!" exclaimed Roldan, and even Adan sprang to his feet and
marched westward with some enthusiasm. But alas! although they trudged
with dogged persistence for fully a league, striving to forget the
gnawing at their vitals in the exquisite prospect filling the eye, the
lake seemed to march ahead of them, in perfect time with their weary
feet. Suddenly the two boys paused and faced each other.
"This accursed desert is bewitched," said Roldan. His face was white,
but more with anger than fear; for the first time in his life he
realised the helplessness of man when at the mercy of nature, and he did
not like the sensation. He had a strong, and by this time, well
developed instinct to govern, to bend others to his will, and he swore
now that he would walk out of this desert unharmed if only for the
pleasure of cheating a force mightier than himself. He turned and looked
at the sun.
"We have been going in a wrong direction," he said. "That lake has been
shifting gradually toward the southwest, and taken us nearly a league
out of our course. The first thing we know we will be in Baja
California, where there is nothing but deserts, and they are all on
mountain tops. We must strike north again. I am sure that last night we
were due west of Los Angeles."
"But the lake? the Mission?"
"I do not believe there is any lake. There are things you and I do not
understand in this world--although we are learning--and I believe that
this strange desert has the power to make scenes like the theatres they
who have travelled tell us of. Be sure that lake will disappear like the
city."
They turned north in order to get in line with the sun; and out of the
tail of their eyes they saw the lake march with them. When they finally
turned to the west again it faced them once more. They linked arms
suddenly and trudged on, hungry, parched, beset by superstitious fears,
but not forgetting to turn every half hour and glance at the sun until
he passed the meridian and pointed for the west. And suddenly the lake
seemed to slip behind a wall.
"There is really something there this time," said Roldan, closing one
eye and curving his hand about the other. "It is ugly enough to be real.
It is no use to say how far anything is in this place, but I should
think we would reach it before long."
And long before they did reach it they knew what it was--a thicket of
cacti some two miles long and of unknown depth. The plants were eight or
ten feet high, and the broad thick leaves, spiked, as only the leaves of
the cactus are, looked to be welded together. But that was from a
distance. When the boys reached the thicket they saw that the plants in
reality were some feet apart, although there appeared to be no end to
them. The boys sat down suddenly, their strength deserting them. They
threw their arms forward on their knees and dropped their heads. For a
half hour or more they sat motionless, then Roldan looked up and fixed
his glassy eyes on the forbidding wall, which at close proximity seemed
to girt* the horizon.
"If we tried to go round it," he said, "there is no knowing where we
should find ourselves. We had better go straight ahead, if possible. If
it is too thick we can turn back."
"At least we could not see this horrible desert for a while," said Adan.
"I am willing."
"And, who knows? Los Angeles may be just on the