"If we tried to go round it," he said, "there is no knowing where we should find ourselves. We had better go straight ahead, if possible. If it is too thick we can turn back."
"At least we could not see this horrible desert for a while," said Adan.
"I am willing."
"And, who knows? Los Angeles may be just on the other side."
Their utterance was thick. Their veins felt as if packed with lead, not so much from need of food as need of drink. But they stumbled to their feet and entered the cactus forest. They were obliged to pursue their way in single file; the spikes were long, and many of the larger leaves abutted so obstructively that they were obliged to go down on their hands and knees and crawl. Nor could they maintain a straight course, but zig-zagged among the great plants as nature permitted. More than once they heard the rip of silk, more than once blood sprang through their skin. Their progress was slow and fraught with peril, their only consolation that the end must come sooner or later.
Night came suddenly. They were near an open a few feet in circumference.
They lay down side by side, knowing that a step at night might mean instant blindness.
The cactus never moves, not even in a storm. There was not a breath of wind to-night. The thick dull green plant-trees looked as solid as stone, a petrified forest. The sky had never seemed so high above, the stars so hard and bright.
Adan moistened his lips with his tongue. "Do you feel that you can last another day?" he asked.
"I expect to die of old age."
"Well, if you do, it won't be the fault of the Mojave desert. You have courage, and so have I; but this is worse than all--Do you feel that?"
"I have felt it many times before, to-day. It is said that parts of the Mojave shake all the time."
"We can swear to that. Supposing a great shake came, how could we get out of this?"
"We are as well here as anywhere. Let us sleep, and rise with the sun."
But although he spoke confidently, almost contemptuously, he was possessed with a wild desire to spring to his feet and fight his way out of this terrible prison. He had seen a huge fish flounder in a net, and looked on callously. He should never witness such another sight without a responsive thrill of horror. Were he paralysed from crown to heel he could not be more helpless in this thicket of needles. The vast unpeopled desert had been bad enough, but it had been intoxicating liberty to this. Tired as he was, he moved his hands and feet constantly; supineness was impossible. He wondered how men felt when in prison, and vowed that when he held the law in his hands he would invent some other way of punishment. For his part he would rather be shot at once.
Being young and healthy, he fell asleep after a time. When he awoke the sky was grey, the stars had gone. He shook Adan.
"There is no sunrise to be seen from this place," he said, "but I am sure of the direction now. I took note of that big cactus ahead, last night--Hist!"
"Dios de mi alma!" whispered Adan, his tongue rolling out. "In this place! It is worse than earthquake."
Nothing was to be seen from where they stood, but from no great distance came the faint hollow rattle which strikes terror to man in the wilderness. The volume of sound was suddenly augmented: there appeared to be a duet. Immediately it was supplemented by a loud furious hissing; a moment later by a whirr and impact.
"There are two, and they are fighting," whispered Adan, his eyes bulging.
Roldan advanced softly to an aperture between two leaves of a cactus, then lifted his finger to his shoulder and beckoned. Adan turned mechanically in the opposite direction; but curiosity overcame him, and he joined Roldan.
