the Sunday noon before
Several days later , one brought up against the condenser and after knocking off the thatch , collapsed , deluging the apparatus with sand . There was something uncanny about these gigantic figures , whirling suddenly across the desert , now viciously ripping up a cholla or a Joshua tree , now collapsing ridiculously against a rock . It was now too , that thunderstorms were occasionally heard in the distant western ranges , though rain seemed forever denied to the desert valleys . But on the Sunday noon before Rabbit Tail 's gang was to arrive , the impossible happened . Roger and Gustav were eating their monotonous lunch of corned beef and canned brown bread when a curious roar broke the desert silence . As the two men looked at each other questioningly , there was a deafening crash and a huge deluge of water smashed down on the cook tent . The sun-baked canvas was like a sieve and in a moment both men were saturated .