mules and of the disposition of the coffee, flour, and beans. Aiken
possessed real executive ability, and it is only fair to him to say
that as commissary sergeant he served us well. By the time we had
reached Tegucigalpa the twelve mules had increased to twenty, and our
stock of rations, instead of diminishing as we consumed them,
increased daily. We never asked how he managed it. Possibly, knowing
Aiken, it was wiser not to inquire.

We broke camp at four in the morning, but in spite of our early start
the next day's advance was marked by the most cruel heat. We had left
the shade of the high lands and now pushed on over a plain of dry,
burning sand, where nothing grew but naked bushes bristling with
thorns, and tall grayish-green cacti with disjointed branching arms.
They stretched out before us against the blazing sky, like a
succession of fantastic telegraph-poles. We were marching over what
had once been the bed of a great lake. Layers of tiny round pebbles
rolled under our feet, and the rocks which rose out of the sand had
been worn and polished by the water until they were as smooth as the
steps of a cathedral. A mile away on each flank were dark green
ridges, but ahead of us there was only a great stretch of glaring
white sand. No wind was stirring, and not a drop of moisture. The air
was like a breath from a brick oven, and the heat of the sun so fierce
that if you touched your fingers to a gun-barrel it burned the flesh.

We did not escape out of this lime-kiln until three in the afternoon,
when the trail again led us into the protecting shade of the jungle.
The men plunged into it as eagerly as though they were diving into
water.

About four o'clock we heard great cheering ahead of us, and word was