"Twenty-four hours without water in the desert is a terrible thing. Before we had covered half the distance to Garlic Springs Baker went mad. He was for abandoning the party, and that meant, to one in his condition, certain death. There was but one thing I could think of to prevent him, and that I did. I pulled my revolver and told him if he attempted to leave the party I would shoot him. He had enough sense or sanity to heed the admonition, and he stayed with us. I had to carry my revolver in my hand, however, and constantly keep an eye on him. It was ten o'clock when we reached the springs, and we were all on the verge of delirium. It was several hours before our swollen and parched throats would admit more than a very few drops of water at a time. We bathed in the water, soaked towels in it and sucked at the ends, and by degrees fought away the demon of thirst. Baker spent five weeks in a hospital after reaching civilization, and we all were unfitted for hard work for a long time." It is easy to gather tales of this sort from the towns bordering upon the deserts. There are still more disastrous tales which remain untold because none survive to relate them. Items similar to the one herewith given are by no means rare. The subjoined one is an associated press dispatch dated Imperial, April 28, 1903. It says: "Five human skeletons were found to-day at the east side of the Salton River, making eighteen found to date on the part of the desert being brought under irrigation. The presumption is that the persons may have perished from thirst as many have done in this region, which a few months ago was utter barrenness. Nothing has been found to give any clew to the identity of these persons whose bones may have lain on the desert for many years." Down in the Colorado Desert is a well which is bringing its owner a fortune. Within a radius of fifty or sixty miles are a score or more of mining camps where no water is to be found. Prospectors and other travelers, also, frequently pass that way, and there is no other water for many miles about. These travelers and the residents of the mining camps are glad to pay handsomely for water from this well. The proprietor has built tanks and loading apparatus for the convenience of his patrons, and he has established the following schedule of prices: [Illustration: AN OASIS DWELLING THATCHED WITH PALM LEAVES IN COLORADO DESERT This might pass for a cannibal's hut in the South Sea Islands From photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.] 100 gallons, or less, 25 cents per gallon. Two-horse load, 10 cents per gallon. Four-horse load, 8 cents per gallon.