PROLOGUE I A FACE haunted Cameron -- a woman 's face .
It was there in the white heart of the dying campfire ; it hung in the shadows that hovered over the flickering light ; it drifted in the darkness beyond .
This hour , when the day had closed and the lonely desert night set in with its dead silence , was one in which Cameron 's mind was thronged with memories of a time long past -- of a home back in Peoria , of a woman he had wronged and lost , and loved too late .
He was a prospector for gold , a hunter of solitude , a lover of the drear , rock-ribbed infinitude , because he wanted to be alone to remember .
A sound disturbed Cameron 's reflections .
He bent his head listening .
A soft wind fanned the paling embers , blew sparks and white ashes and thin smoke away into the enshrouding circle of blackness .
His burro did not appear to be moving about .
The quiet split to the cry of a coyote .
It rose strange , wild , mournful -- not the howl of a prowling upland beast baying the campfire or barking at a lonely prospector , but the wail of a wolf , full-voiced , crying out the meaning of the desert and the night .
Hunger throbbed in it -- hunger for a mate , for offspring , for life .
When it ceased , the terrible desert silence smote Cameron , and the cry echoed in his soul .
He and that wandering wolf were brothers .
Then a sharp clink of metal on stone and soft pads of hoofs in sand prompted Cameron to reach for his gun , and to move out of the light of the waning campfire .
He was somewhere along the wild border line between Sonora and Arizona ; and the prospector who dared the heat and barrenness of that region risked other dangers sometimes as menacing .
Figures darker than the gloom approached and took shape , and in the light turned out to be those of a white man and a heavily packed burro .
" Hello there , " the man called , as he came to a halt and gazed about him .
" I saw your fire .
May I make camp here ? "
Cameron came forth out of the shadow and greeted his visitor , whom he took for a prospector like himself .
Cameron resented the breaking of his lonely campfire vigil , but he respected the law of the desert .
The stranger thanked him , and then slipped the pack from his burro .
Then he rolled out his pack and began preparations for a meal .
His movements were slow and methodical .
Cameron watched him , still with resentment , yet with a curious and growing interest .
The campfire burst into a bright blaze , and by its light Cameron saw a man whose gray hair somehow did not seem to make him old , and whose stooped shoulders did not detract from an impression of rugged strength .
" Find any mineral ? " asked Cameron , presently .
His visitor looked up quickly , as if startled by the sound of a human voice .
He replied , and then the two men talked a little .
But the stranger evidently preferred silence .
Cameron understood that .
He laughed grimly and bent a keener gaze upon the furrowed , shadowy face .
Another of those strange desert prospectors in whom there was some relentless driving power besides the lust for gold !
Cameron felt that between this man and himself there was a subtle affinity , vague and undefined , perhaps born of the divination that here was a desert wanderer like himself , perhaps born of a deeper , an unintelligible relation having its roots back in the past .
A long-forgotten sensation stirred in Cameron 's breast , one so long forgotten that he could not recognize it .
But it was akin to pain .
II When he awakened he found , to his surprise , that his companion had departed .
A trail in the sand led off to the north .
There was no water in that direction .
Cameron shrugged his shoulders ; it was not his affair ; he had his own problems .
And straightway he forgot his strange visitor .
Cameron began his day , grateful for the solitude that was now unbroken , for the canyon-furrowed and cactus-spired scene that now showed no sign of life .
He traveled southwest , never straying far from the dry stream bed ; and in a desultory way , without eagerness , he hunted for signs of gold .
The work was toilsome , yet the periods of rest in which he indulged were not taken because of fatigue .
He rested to look , to listen , to feel .
What the vast silent world meant to him had always been a mystical thing , which he felt in all its incalculable power , but never understood .
That day , while it was yet light , and he was digging in a moist white-bordered wash for water , he was brought sharply up by hearing the crack of hard hoofs on stone .
There down the canyon came a man and a burro .
Cameron recognized them .
" Hello , friend , " called the man , halting .
" Our trails crossed again .
That 's good . "
" Hello , " replied Cameron , slowly .
" Any mineral sign to-day ? "
" No . "
They made camp together , ate their frugal meal , smoked a pipe , and rolled in their blankets without exchanging many words .
In the morning the same reticence , the same aloofness characterized the manner of both .
But Cameron 's companion , when he had packed his burro and was ready to start , faced about and said : " We might stay together , if it 's all right with you . "
" I never take a partner , " replied Cameron .
" You 're alone ; I 'm alone , " said the other , mildly .
" It 's a big place .
If we find gold there 'll be enough for two . "
" I do n't go down into the desert for gold alone , " rejoined Cameron , with a chill note in his swift reply .
His companion 's deep-set , luminous eyes emitted a singular flash .
It moved Cameron to say that in the years of his wandering he had met no man who could endure equally with him the blasting heat , the blinding dust storms , the wilderness of sand and rock and lava and cactus , the terrible silence and desolation of the desert .
Cameron waved a hand toward the wide , shimmering , shadowy descent of plain and range .
" I may strike through the Sonora Desert .
I may head for Pinacate or north for the Colorado Basin .
You are an old man . "
" I do n't know the country , but to me one place is the same as another , " replied his companion .
For moments he seemed to forget himself , and swept his far-reaching gaze out over the colored gulf of stone and sand .
Then with gentle slaps he drove his burro in behind Cameron .
" Yes , I 'm old .
I 'm lonely , too .
It 's come to me just lately .
But , friend , I can still travel , and for a few days my company wo n't hurt you . "
" Have it your way , " said Cameron .
They began a slow march down into the desert .
At sunset they camped under the lee of a low mesa .
Cameron was glad his comrade had the Indian habit of silence .
Another day 's travel found the prospectors deep in the wilderness .
Then there came a breaking of reserve , noticeable in the elder man , almost imperceptibly gradual in Cameron .
Beside the meager mesquite campfire this gray-faced , thoughtful old prospector would remove his black pipe from his mouth to talk a little ; and Cameron would listen , and sometimes unlock his lips to speak a word .
And so , as Cameron began to respond to the influence of a desert less lonely than habitual , he began to take keener note of his comrade , and found him different from any other he had ever encountered in the wilderness .
This man never grumbled at the heat , the glare , the driving sand , the sour water , the scant fare .
During the daylight hours he was seldom idle .
At night he sat dreaming before the fire or paced to and fro in the gloom .
He slept but little , and that long after Cameron had had his own rest .
He was tireless , patient , brooding .
Cameron 's awakened interest brought home to him the realization that for years he had shunned companionship .
In those years only three men had wandered into the desert with him , and these had left their bones to bleach in the shifting sands .
Cameron had not cared to know their secrets .
But the more he studied this latest comrade the more he began to suspect that he might have missed something in the others .
In his own driving passion to take his secret into the limitless abode of silence and desolation , where he could be alone with it , he had forgotten that life dealt shocks to other men .
Somehow this silent comrade reminded him .
One afternoon late , after they had toiled up a white , winding wash of sand and gravel , they came upon a dry waterhole .
Cameron dug deep into the sand , but without avail .
He was turning to retrace weary steps back to the last water when his comrade asked him to wait .
Cameron watched him search in his pack and bring forth what appeared to be a small , forked branch of a peach tree .
He grasped the prongs of the fork and held them before him with the end standing straight out , and then he began to walk along the stream bed .
Cameron , at first amused , then amazed , then pitying , and at last curious , kept pace with the prospector .
He saw a strong tension of his comrade 's wrists , as if he was holding hard against a considerable force .
The end of the peach branch began to quiver and turn .
Cameron reached out a hand to touch it , and was astounded at feeling a powerful vibrant force pulling the branch downward .
He felt it as a magnetic shock .
The branch kept turning , and at length pointed to the ground .
" Dig here , " said the prospector .
" What ! " ejaculated Cameron .
Had the man lost his mind ?
Then Cameron stood by while his comrade dug in the sand .
Three feet he dug -- four -- five , and the sand grew dark , then moist .
At six feet water began to seep through .
" Get the little basket in my pack , " he said .
Cameron complied , and saw his comrade drop the basket into the deep hole , where it kept the sides from caving in and allowed the water to seep through .
While Cameron watched , the basket filled .
Of all the strange incidents of his desert career this was the strangest .
Curiously he picked up the peach branch and held it as he had seen it held .
The thing , however , was dead in his hands .