When his water ran out, he sought help at a ranch out of fear he would die in the desert. Security officers called the border patrol and he was arrested.

Martinez was one of the lucky ones.

Forty-three illegal aliens have died on the same journey from heat exhaustion, dehydration and other heat-related causes. A 13-year-old boy was found dead last Saturday. Border patrol agents have rescued others, including some found in hot stifling railroad freight cars.

``Knowing that, I still risked it,'' said Martinez, who had hoped to find work fishing or on a ranch to help support the four children he left back home. ``I'm scared, but I need to risk my life.''

As he spokeyesterday, the temperature soared through the upper nineties (32 celsius) in this region of open country north of the border cities around Brownsville and south-west of Corpus Christi.

Elsewhere in the state, Dallas reached 100 degrees (37 celsius) by early afternoon, the city's 14th straight day of triple-digit temperatures.

The illegal aliens found dead after crossing the border were in addition to 36 other people whose deaths in Texas were blamed on the heat. Louisiana has counted at least 22 heat deaths, and Oklahoma had six, with one each in California, Arizona and Missouri.

As Martinez awaited deportation at the Falfurrias border patrol checkpoint 128 km from the border, he said he would rest for a few weeks at home and try all over again maybe with a bigger bottle of water.

The area around the Falfurrias border checkpoint is a combination of shaded pastures and wild country. Part of the historic King ranch is here, along with other sprawling spreads.

Brush taller than an average personprovides plenty of cover for illegal immigrants trying to evade the border patrol checkpoint that sits along a highway headed north.

There are well-marked paths used by immigrants, evidenced by footprints in the soft, sandy soil, discarded water jugs and shirts and sweaters left on bushes.

But since those same paths are watched by the border patrol, some illegal immigrants head out into thicker tangles of cactus and mesquite bushes. Some are guided by signs marking oil and gas pipelines, and at night there are lights twinkling from atop distant microwave towers. Many get lost.

``They don't know the terrain,'' says Francisco Z Camacho, supervisor at the Falfurrias border patrol station. ``They walk all night. Suddenly it's daylight, the sun comes up, they get dehydrated and sick.''

He said the 13-year-old boy found by agents on Saturday had died while trying to walk north with his older cousins. The two older men were deported to Mexico after they were caught.

``It's just the same old need to getthrough,'' Camacho said.