The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1872-04-26
JORNADA DEL MUERTOi

Oiil CNSlHiiS Huuctl. Ill tlt ytdI
Z 1868, the vclIicla which is by courtesy
called coach, Dir d n by four little mules,
with its driver ameXpressnlan and fOur
passengers inside, started out of Paraja
on the southward journey, which few
who have made il will forget, and which
aiterward seems strange adventure, ull-
tlertaken by night, and for some purpose
which was Itself a dream.
Paraja is. as the name indicates, a very
dogsburg of a land of squalid towns. It's
as though it had been gently shaken in q
blanket, and indiscrimInately dropped i'm
the midst of few acres of sand. Sand
there is i'm element. Ii blows through ev-
cry chink and Granny. and lies ankle deep
i'm the street. Itpervades all that is eaten
and drank and breathed, and lies in will
rows and in heaps. But this is all in accord
ance with the Mexican idea, for a few
e.! hundred yards away the ground is grass
grown and hard, and that which stands
in the changing sand by chance might
easily have been placed Oh solid earth Oh
purpose. Worse than all, il stands at the
- hither end of that treeless, watcrless will
derness, which TO manly has been in fact
all that the poetic name implies: jornada
del nsuerto-'' the journey OF death.''
~ Of the four passengers, one was an act
ing medical officer i'm the army one was a
trader; one man who was anything and
had no characteristics: and the fourth. a
large man in middle life, who sat with his
back to the front and his long limbs
thrown across the middle seat, was as ev-
identity genuine son of the frontier as
though the fact had been placartled upon
!, him. His magnificent beard was plcnti-
= fully sprinkfcd' with gray, and the solcs
of his great boots, upright before his
audience. seemed as though they might
serve for toMbstOnes if he should chance
to follow. an old-tinle fashion of his kind
and be buried in them. His siouch hat
was pulled down over a pair of gray eyes
and a kindly, honest face. and he held the
Winchester gun across his Knee with that
careless yet constant grasp which is one
of the small signs betOkenIng man used
10 danger and accustomed to the vigilance
which H t1iose regions becomesa habit.
- The gold and purple and amber faded,
and the far snow grew pink and gray.
then winter than before IN the starlight,
and soon there was nothing Of earth i'm
the scene save the tall cactllscs that took
fantastic shapes as they nodded in the
light OF the horizon, and the vague and
misty undulations of a wilderness which,
clothed i'm night and silence seemed a
part of some other and unreal world.
-Four women together, strange TO each
other. and without collnterpOlse of mas
culinity, would either keep silence or po-
litely disagree. Bat men do not; and BY
r, this time, each one had given his fellows
{ some idcalof who he was, where he was
born, and what he liked best of men.
horses, climates, and cookery. Not spe-
cially and IN order. but ~ men tell such
things. Such revelations come first nat
ursiiy. Then comes little modest brag-
ging on the part of each, and he who goes
;, toofar in that is straightway snubbed into
mental conditions answers the purpose
equally well. Afler this comes silence.
yawning, and finally sleep. Only part of
this prqgrmmc could he carried out here.
Seciabilify WAS anecessity. for iffour men
sleep on the jornada they may never wake
again. No man listens to his neighber's
J etoFpf heoMes absorbed in his own so
intHHy that his ear is not also alert for
ene fHaway galioping or The sudden
shout which betokens the Apache.
FOR the most part the large man was
silent. His companions were none Of
Them Of the class to which he was ac-
cuSp0mefl as auditors. The trader told
OF circumstances which had transpired in
a country neighbOrhood in some Eastern
State, anu duly mentioned the names and
relationships. Of all his characters. The
medical man told. Of college adventures
and nlrtations, and touched little upon
science. The man who was nothing. and
nad no character, rsat~sient, only occa-
s,onahy throwing in an interjeetion or ex-
ciamauon OF wonder. This made him
popular with the doctor and the trader
In SIX or eight hours this Kind of thing
Z ~ Apl ~ oeeome m0Dotonous. As the
hours slowly crept toward ,r;sln;ght
yawning and grrimbling increased Thay
exchanged seats, whistled. borrowed ~
baccO from each other to yarv the 49,
+. and odd variety. when even lie weed ~ tSd had
n bee6me burden. All this I'm. ,.au ~
huge frontlefsman had kept his seat and md
his patience, and only occasionally had had
) hrown in caustic remark or piece Of
original philosophy. !; ~ Al - y
"a Finally that waning, red morning.
= mpen, which j. but the ghost of bright
ness, and Which seems to steal around the
8 verge of the universe at late hours to
AVOID being aen, rose slowly above the
norjzonl and added little iight. The
r slsary fluctuations Of the landscape grew
more distinct. Thirty miles of the Jour
ney lay behind, aud the lonely backward
track and the still ionelier vet to come.
oppressed the party with that vague nm
sasiness which some Of them had never
DuL how change seemed TO have come,
over the d0ntiersman. A.. IT. s 0