Obed and Ned wheeled about and raised their rifles.  The four Mexicans, who were galloping their ponies, stopped abruptly.  Obed and Ned turned and rode on.

“We gave ’em a sign,” said Obed, “and they saw it.  We’re in no danger, Ned.  We could beat ’em either in a fight or a run.  The battle is sometimes to the strong and the race to the swift.”

It was obvious that the Mexicans, who were probably only scouts, did not want a fight with formidable Texans who carried such long rifles.  They dropped back until Ned, taking a final look, could not tell their distant figures from the stem of the lonesome cactus.

“Horses and rifles are mighty useful in their place,” said Obed.  “Add to them wood and water and what little more a man needs he should be able to find.”

“It’s wood and water that we ought to hunt now.”

“We may strike both before night, but if not we’ll ride on a while anyhow, and maybe we’ll find ’em.”

They went deeper into the great upland which was half a desert and half a plain.  Occasionally they saw besides the cactus, mesquite and yucca and some clumps of coarse grass.

“Bunch grass,” said Obed, “like that which you find further north, and mighty good it is, too, for cattle and horses.  We’ll have plenty of food for these two noble steeds of ours, and I shouldn’t be surprised, too, if we ran across big game.  It’s always where the bunch grass grows.”

They did not reach wood and water by nightfall, but, riding two hours longer in a clear twilight, they found both.  The plain rose and fell in deep swells, and in the deepest of the swells to which they had yet to come they found a trickling stream of clear water, free from alkali, fringed on either shore with trees of moderate size.

“Here we are,” said Obed, “and here we stay till morning.  You never know how fine water looks until you’ve been a long time without it.”

They let their horses drink first, and then, going further up the stream, drank freely of the water themselves.  They found it cold and good, and they were refreshed greatly.  There was also a belt of excellent grass, extending a hundred yards back on either side of the stream, and, unsaddling and tethering their horses, they let them graze.  Both Ned and Obed would have liked a fire, but they deemed it dangerous, and they ate their food cold.  After supper, Obed walked up the stream a little distance, examining the ground on either side of the water.  When he came back he said to Ned: 

“I saw animal tracks two or three hundred yards up the creek, and they were made by big animals.  Buffalo range about here somewhere, and we may see ’em before we get through.”

“I wouldn’t mind having a shot at a fine buffalo,” said Ned.  But he was not very eager about it.  He was thinking more then of sleep.  Obed, while thinking of sleep also, was thinking of other things, too, and he was somewhat troubled in his mind.  But he bore himself as a man of cheerful countenance.