HEROES OF THE LONE STAR STATE.

891

Henceforth they were inseparable. After traveling for a week, the sun shone out for the first time since the night passed in the cave. To his dismay, Wallace discovered that he had been traveling in exactly the wrong direction. He had been going north instead of south.

At the end of the first day's journey southward, Wallace, standing on the top of a high ridge, found himself overlooking a beautiful little valley. He and Comanche at once made their way thither. A cool spring of water was found, and near by, in a ledge of rock, Wallace found a small cave, about twelve feet square. The front had been walled up evidently by a human hand, with a small entrance way left open. The floor was smooth, dry rock, and no better protection from the weather could be desired. A bed of dried grass made both the man and do  ; comfortable.

Proceeding down the valley the next day, Wallace saw plenty of deer and wild turkeys, but as he still had some venison he refrained from using his ammunition. In climbing a hill, Wallace met with an unhappy accident. His foot slipped on a loose stone, and he gave his ankle a terrible sprain. It was impossible to bear the slightest weight upon it. It was evident that he must remain where he was until the injured member got well.

With great pain and difficulty Wallace crawled back to where he had passed the night. He bathed his swollen limb in the spring, and, suffering greatly, crawled into the cave. While the prospect was not so bad as it might have been, inasmuch as the accident might have occurred at a point where no shelter was obtainable, nevertheless, Wallace felt that his inability to hunt game and procure food rendered the emergency one of great danger.

He slept somewhat through the night and was awakened in the morning by the flapping of wild turkeys' wings. Crawling to the door of the cave, he discovered several of the birds in a clump of neighboring pecan trees.   Selecting the largest gobbler,