233
THE BLUE FEATHER
them and the lost city were only large areas that once had been
cultivated fields. On horseback, they could be easily traveled.
Irrigation ditches, which crisscrossed the fertile land, and were
once filled with water, now remained dry. They were slowly
filling with blowing, fine dust. However, Tital still got the feeling
of the vast effort that must have been needed to keep this much
land productive. Scattered about were massive White Oaks,
English Walnuts, and Red Maple trees. They broke through into
the open fields full of Red Clover and Bermuda grass. Brilloso
was wildly running ahead of the horses. He flushed several
coveys of quail, Ruffed Grouse, and Ring-Necked Pheasants.
Bardala rode up to Tital’s side before looking over at him and
saying, “This place is beautiful, it’s so serene. I can’t see why
anyone would willingly abandon their land and homes. From up
here you can look out and see forever.”
Tital replied as they rode along, “There must have been a
very good reason for leaving, I just wonder what it was? From
the looks of these fields no one has been here in a long, long
time. Look over there to the east; it looks like maybe an old well.
Come on, the horses need a drink, if it has any water in it.”
The group rode quickly over and saw what appeared to be a
stone-walled well. The lichen-covered walls were lined with large
cut limestone blocks, which stood one meter above the ground.
Ronú dismounted his horse first and looked down into the
well. “It has water in it! It looks to be only four meters down. We
could use our large, aluminum cooking pot to bring the water
up.”
“Fine, let’s take a break and water the horses good.” Tital said
as he dismounted. “Jonathan, mark this well on your digital
compass. When we make camp later, we may need to come