The ponies paused to drink, and, as they emerged on the other side and started up the gentle slope, Hazletine suggested that for a time at least they should be held down to a walk.
One anxiety began to impress itself upon the minds of Jack and Fred.
They were not only hungrier than they had been for months, but that hunger was increasing at an alarming rate.

Neither had brought any lunch with them, and they wondered how food was to be obtained.

Jack almost fainted at the awful suspicion that perhaps their friend intended to break them in by making the two or three days' journey to the ranch without eating anything at all! "I suppose it would be no trouble for _him_," was the lugubrious thought of the youth, "but it will be the death of us!" Happily this dread proved unfounded.

The sun had hardly crossed the meridian when both lads were thrilled by the declaration of Hazletine: "Wal, if you younkers are as hungry as me, we'll have a bite." They were in the middle of the undulating plain, with no wood or water in sight; but that was a small matter.

In a twinkling all three were out of their saddles, and the guide unstrapped a large bundle from its fastening to the saddle of his pony.