We opened a line of holes six feet
deep, but found very little water.
Sending Corporal Henry back with a message to Captain Bayard, we
pushed on to Lithodendron Creek, a distance of thirteen miles, and
found about an acre of water, four inches deep, in the bed of the
stream, under the shadow of a sandstone cliff. It was miserable
stuff--thick, murky, and warm--but it was better than nothing; I sent
a soldier back to the command, and sat down with Frank under the
cliff to wait.
The march had lengthened into thirty-two miles, over an exceedingly
rough country, and it had been continuous, with no noonday rest, and
under a broiling sun.
Frank and I sat a little apart from the soldiers, watching for the
arrival of the approaching wagons.
Time dragged slowly on until after nine o'clock, when a faint
"hee-haw" in the far distance gave us the first hint that the train
was over the divide and that the unfailing scent of the mules had
recognized the vicinity of water.
An hour more passed before Sergeant Cunningham and half a dozen
privates of the infantry company marched down to the roily pool and
stooped for a drink.
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