"What a good uncle you must be to them!"
"Thank you, laddie. I hope the bairns are as fine boys as you and your
brother."
"You are very kind to say so, sir. May I ask you a question?"
"A dozen, laddie. What is it?"
"When you overtook us on the desert you said it was not far to Tyson's
Wells, and that we should soon be there."
"Ah! then you thought it a long way, sergeant?"
"Perhaps my terrible thirst had something to do with it, but it seemed
more than twenty-five miles. I thought you had a queer notion of
distances."
"Only a little deception to keep up your heart, laddie. I saw you were
in sad need of water, and I made a hard ride to send it to you, but I
wanted you to do your best to meet it. What do you think of the
shrinking properties of water when applied to a desert road?"
"Wasn't it great, though! Those last twenty miles your four barrels
shrank into nothing but a pleasant three hours' ride."
After dinner Mr. Hudson reported that he had dropped information at
the hotels and business places that we were here to meet a director of
the Colorado Navigation Company.
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