They were pretty sure that the wide plain held no water.

Everything that would hold the precious drink was filled, and the best preparations made for what they believed was to be the final struggle for life.

They rested one day and prepared for the very worst that might before them.

Early in the morning when they could see plainest, they looked across the expanse before them and really it did not seem quite so barren, hot and desolate as the region they had passed, and they talked and hoped that this would be the last desert they must cross and that Los Angeles lay just beyond the sunny ridge they could dimly see ahead.

There were some tears that more than one would not live to answer roll call on the other side, but it was the last hope, and worth an earnest, active trial.
Early in the morning, much refreshed, they started on again with rather sober faces.