over those certified checks to them. With the papers to show for
it, they go out by Calexico and cash the checks in Los Angeles.
They could put up the bluff that their partner was guarding the
mine while they bought machinery and outfitted. That'd be good
enough to cash certified checks by."

"Yes; that's about the way I figure it out. You spoke of Richford's
being able to get rid of young Hoff effectually, without actual
murder."

"All he'd have to do would be to quit the boy while he was asleep.
A tenderfoot would die of thirst over there in a short time."

"Is there no water?"

"There's a tenaja they're depending on. But I doubt if they find
any water there now. It's been an extra dry season."

"A tenaja?" queried the Ad-Visor.

"Rock-basin holding rainwater," explained the hunter. "There's been
no rainfall since August. If they find the tenaja empty they'll,
have barely enough in the canteens they pack to get them to the next
water, the Tenaja Poquita, around behind the mountains and across
the desert into the next range."

"What's the next water to that?"

"The Stream of Palms. That's a day and a half on foot."