Cameron waved a hand toward the wide, shimmering, shadowy descent
of plain and range. "I may strike through the Sonora Desert. I
may head for Pinacate or north for the Colorado Basin. You are
an old man."
"I don't know the country, but to me one place is the same as
another," replied his companion. For moments he seemed to forget
himself, and swept his far-reaching gaze out over the colored gulf
of stone and sand. Then with gentle slaps he drove his burro in
behind Cameron. "Yes, I'm old. I'm lonely, too. It's come to me
just lately. But, friend, I can still travel, and for a few days
my company won't hurt you."
"Have it your way," said Cameron.
They began a slow march down into the desert. At sunset
they camped under the lee of a low mesa. Cameron was glad his
comrade had the Indian habit of silence. Another day's travel found
the prospectors deep in the wilderness. Then there came a breaking
of reserve, noticeable in the elder man, almost imperceptibly
gradual in Cameron. Beside the meager mesquite campfire this
gray-faced, thoughtful old prospector would remove his black pipe
from his mouth to talk a little; and Cameron would listen, and
sometimes unlock his lips to speak a word. And so, as Cameron
began to respond to the influence of a desert less lonely than
habitual, he began to take keener note of his comrade, and found
him different from any other he had ever encountered in the wilderness.
This man never grumbled at the heat, the glare, the driving sand,
the sour water, the scant fare.
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