“Is there anything you would specially like for supper, Ray?” “How about some caviare, like that we had on the Volga steamer, and a cup of coffee; yes, and a little butter.” “What would you say to a glass of water?” Raymond looked thunderstruck. “For Heaven’s sake, Sid! We haven’t any water, have we?” “I don’t find any here.” And Sidney peered into the knapsack. “What boneheads we are, Sid, and I was hardly moistened through after that other dry spell.” And Raymond groaned dismally. “Well, I must say,” said Sidney, “I should think water would be the last thing we’d forget now. We can’t get down to the bottom of that cañon to-night, either, and there’s not likely to be any water this side of the bottom.” And Sidney looked down into the deep gloom of the ravine at their feet. “It’s a dry supper, that’s sure,” said Raymond. “It’s a good thing that rabbit has no salt.” “Oh, well, we’ll forget all about it once we’re asleep, and we can hike down to the next stream as soon as it’s light.” And Sidney spread the meat, bread, and cheese out on the ground before them. “No cheese for yours truly, thank you,” said Raymond, “but I’ll take some meat and bread, if you please.” “I guess it would be wise to let the cheese go by to-night,” agreed Sidney; “it’s a little too salty for a dry lunch.” “There’s one thing sure, Sid; we’ve got to scare up something to carry water in. We may be caught like this often.” “Meantime, we’ll have to stop where there is water, if we make only half a day.” The roast rabbit was savory enough to assist the consumption of a little dry bread, and the lack of water did not prevent the boys from going to sleep almost as soon as they lay down. Early to bed, the old jingle truthfully says, is early to rise, and the boys were awake before the sun had touched the peaks around them, and while the cañons were still in dense shadow. It required only a minute or two for the travelers to roll up their blankets and start on their hike down into the next ravine. At its bottom was a little stream that seemed, to the thirsty boys, to be flowing nectar. In the afternoon of that day they observed a village, the first one, but as it was perched up on the side of the ravine, and they happened at that time to be in the bottom, they passed stealthily, and thought themselves fortunate to get by. An hour or two later, when they found that the trail was leaving the cañon to climb another mountain, they camped right there by the stream, determined not to be surprised by another dry camp. CHAPTER XIV LESGHIAN HOSPITALITY The boys need not have been uneasy about water, for as they advanced to the main range every ravine was the bed of a foaming torrent, and there were no more dry camps. The trail crossed the streams by bridges of curious construction. Sometimes the bridge spanned a gorge high above the stream, and sometimes it was thrown across from banks that were near the water.