They skinned a wildcat they had killed on the way and boiled the red meat briefly in our kettle and ate it like hungry wolves, while Jones and I, all the time wondering what had become of the Major, made a light lunch on some of our scanty supply. Then we climbed the hill, and getting together a little more brush Jones sat keeping a signal fire going as long as he had fuel. But the wind was keen and strong, wood limited, and he gave it up. Spreading our blankets we went to sleep. Morning came clear and sharp. I took my glasses and went up to scan the country for some sign of the Major or our waggon and I rejoiced to discover him not a quarter of a mile distant. He had headed for the fire, and losing it kept on by a star till he thought he was near us, when he made a small fire of his own, tied his mule, and waited for day. We had a bite together and thawed out some of the ice in our kettle, providing a diminutive drink for each horse; then leaving the natives in charge of the baggage we rode down into the plain to find our waggon, taking along our last bit of bread for lunch. In about ten miles we came to it and Frank Hamblin gave us the latest news, "Grant elected and Boston burned." After a lunch we turned back, making a camp at the foot of the basalt, thawing out more ice for the animals, and giving the Indians some food. About two o'clock the Major and I rode over to the Innupin Picavu while Jones and the waggon went around, as it could not cross the basalt. We arrived at seven, while the waggon did not come till half past eleven, when we prepared a good supper for all hands, turning in about three in the morning. Not a man awoke before ten, though the strong sun fell on our faces. The animals were used up and we did what we could on foot that day. I climbed four more cinder-cones, reaching camp at dark. Every day I climbed several of the cones, but some were so far away that I had to make a special camp from which to operate. The waggon was loaded with ice from the water-pocket, and a supply of provisions, and driven about seven miles to a basaltic gulch, in a well-wooded locality on the edge of a treeless valley, where the load was dropped and I was left with my horse. Before dark I gathered a lot of wood, made a good fire, and melted some of the ice that formed my water supply, in a brass kettle, watering my horse, which I then tethered with a long rope where there was good grass. I did not intend to waste time hunting my mount in the morning. After supper I spread my blankets near the fire and by the light of a bright piñon blaze I began to read _Great Expectations_, a paper edition with the last leaves gone having gotten into camp. As I read Pip's interview in the twilight with the convict on the dreary marshes I was in deep sympathy with the desperate hunger of the terrible man, and when Mrs. Joe buttered the end of the loaf and carved off the slices I myself was hungry enough to cook supper over again.