The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1875-04-09
GAIN

There was blood on the hand, not
visible to the eye; to the sight it was
only brown hand, tanned to the sun,
rather delicate for the hand by a miner
yet there was blood upon it. The
soul could see it, even if the eye could
not.
There was blood, too, on the brow.
True, the light of the sun revealed it not.
Only the smooth forehead, with high
temples, and full swell to the brain
rather scholarly rather intelligent than
otherwise rather an unusual face IN its
refinement for rough mining life yet,
there was broad stain of blood upon it
horrid, crimson stain. No water could
wash it away. True, the skin was fair
and white, save slight yellowish tinge,
come of days upon the desert, and a,
faint line where the hat pressed; yet,
with the vision of some subtle inner
sense, one saw the hideous smear of
blood there saw it In the deepest dark
ness of the black midnight.
I first met him at Camp Date Greek,
Arizona, where I was awaiting orders to
proceed to my own post Rather q
pleasant face, only reserved and still. L
sat and talked awhile with him, pleased
TO find one who was intelligent, and who
could converse well.
The hot sun of the June morning was
pouring its heat down upon me as I sat,
until Thought must seek the shade of
the tent Then, felt it come over me
(once before felt it when sat by a man
who was afterward hanged for murder);
felt it-not a chill, not shiver my
hands were warm and my pulse full and
strong; no, not a chill, certainly not a
chill, but a cold, wordless horror.
One stands near preclpice. He Is IN
no bodily peril yet a terror creeps and
creeps, from the heart, along the branch
ing course of blood-vessels, out to the
tips of the starting hair. He Is In nc
bodily peril why does he stand ap-
paIled, and this terror come upon him
this bodily horror? Because the physi-
cal being shrinks from the contgulty OF
this yawning possibility of destruction
Through every nerve 1t cries Flee hee
Tarry not! Death haunteth the brink
Flee lest madness seize thee, lest the
abyss charm thee, a14d thou cast thysel
down.
Is the soul-horror that seizes one
when in the presence of great crime, hk'
this. only In most subtle sense (! Is
that the souls shrinks, starts back, shout
to itself an alarm lest madness seiz
upon it, too, and tempt 1t to the soul
death that it feels beside it, I knoy
not I only ask.
I sat in the not sun, and the chil
horror crept and crept over me. The
my eyes were clear then I saw tn
crimson stain ON the brow-the blood
smear saw it, though the hat-r1m wa
pulled down, covering all, even to tn
ewes. that were cast downward and neve
lifted to meet mine.
When, where, howe I know not.
might have been on the high seas, in th
city slums, in the lone bosom of the de-
art. known of no eye save the unsleeF
ing eve of God: but the brand of Cal
was there My voice was not changed
did not move no shrinking away an
he had not looked up. Yet he knew th1
the chill had come to me-; he knew thf
my eyes that moment were opened h
knew, knew TO the deepest depth Of h
shrinking soul, that saw the crimson
the blood.
Then the eyes-the carefully-veile
ewes. lifted to mine-only an instal
Efted-with horror, hunted despai
like the look of the damned. The fir
slayer SO looked when the burning ey
of God made him face that terrible que
&ion. . Cain where is thy brotherg"
i sat one day In the shade of the no
pitnl tent. One of the patients inside
m odd kind of q man who had a que
fancy for reading aloud passages /
Scripture-was turning the leaves of b
Bible. and reading. sat partly hidde
by hanging Aap OF tent, idly gazing
the green fringe of trailing vines cree
ing and twining along the jagged, roch
edge of the canon which Tal1-a hut
chaaln- through the mesa below u
camp.
Isat idly gazing, when he came slow
walking by, and then stopped o mOTnen
nxad stood looking toward the brow
mountains beyond; only, he seemed
10 see the mountains: the eyes Seem'
90 be looking, with that peculiar retr
spective gaze, somewhere, at sometmn
IN time long past.
He stood gazing, yet not seeing. {
"a the shadow Of the tent, silently wate
1ng his face. The voice Of the sick M
wIshlns reading In his odd, fanciful va
picking here and there sentence, I
On the silence; not breaking it; rakh,
m the contrast of the low tones, inten
tying il.
- = = And the Lord said INTO Ga:
Where Is Abel, thy brother2 $50 Z
voice OF thy brothers blood crieth nj
ma rom the ground. And now
Thou cursed from the earth. ~## Al
TkzEe and vagabond shalt FEaou be
Eaa earth. And the Lord se
1pon Cain. lest any finding h
he still stood with the vacant eyes &,
rssun Ea1e brown, desoIate mountains.
Ek be did not seem to hear the vf,ica
che reAder. Then the vacant look A
sway from the eyes. He turned and
aned. The unconscious voice witt
with strange pertinacity, again read
s2&@M The voice Of thy broth,
hln0d crieth unto me from the urbu
And now art thou cursed {,
anxsh. A fugitive and j:
lnd shalt thou be IN the earth. /"