The hot wind and the smoke were parching his throat.

His thirst was intolerable.
Behind him, not very many yards away, was the ice-cold mountain lakelet in which so often he had bathed and drunk.

The thought of it made him hate the stout rope.
But he made no serious effort to free himself.

He had been tied there,--supposedly by the Master's command.

And, as a well-trained dog, it was his place to stay where he was, until the Master should free him.