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Cassie cleaned the supper dishes as best she could with sand, and stored the loater, so it was a dry camp Would they reach Ashley to?

Bordeaux paused beside Pete and spoke to him for a moment before he strolled over to join Cassie

"Grab some canteens and coet some water"

They emptied all the water into four canteens and took four e two canteens, a rifle and a lantern, they started off into the long shadows of the sand dunes

Not far froed at Bordeaux's sleeve "Why didn't we camp here?"

He cupped his hand to her ear so she could hear over the howl of the rising wind

"The wildlife out here depends on the water hole Ca too close deprives the anih, and our ca storm"

Bordeaux paused and lit the lantern Then he led her into the cave About 10 feet back into the cave, water oozed fro into a small rock pool It took them over an hour to fill all the canteens All the while the as rising

With the canteens full, they started for the cave entrance and then stopped Even if it hadn't been dark, visibility would have been less than a few feet The white sand blowing around looked like a Texas blizzard Bordeaux tugged her away from the entrance

"We'll have to stay here until it lets up"

She caught her breath and stared up at him "But what about the others?"

"They'll be fine This isn't the first dust storh, is it?"

"No" She shivered It was cold in the cave Baked by day and frozen by night What a cliet back to Texas Home? She felt suddenly overwhelo back to? A hoer have? Sure, there were other places to live, but nothing would be like the valley where she had spent her childhood The creek where the whippoorwills nested, the rolling hills of wild flowers, and the soothing sound of hts and sounds of a happy childhood What could her father have seen in that saloon girl to make him leave so much behind?

She must have let her shoulders droop, orbody In any case, Bordeaux slipped a co arm around her shoulder