Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-12-31

Thirst, and Then the Illusion Disap-
pears-One of Their Number Loses His
Life, the Others Are Rescued.
Has the reader ever been so fortunate or
unfortunate as to witness Dakota mirage
IN eve witness, in fact2
The recollecdons of one autumn week will
last me to my dying day. 1t was one Of
those calm, sllnshiny days, and l was num-
| beIel in company with a quartet of sport |
loving young fellows who went forth, eager |
to scour the grand, boundless prairies in |
search Of the toothsome duck or hen, ante |
lope or, perhaps, a stray buffalo, which are |
| now very scarce. |
THREE DAYS WITHOUT WATER.
We started out without taking the precau-
ton of preparing for any emergencies what
| ever, as we placed explicit confidence in our
| ability as good sportSmen to supply the needs
of the bodF. We sorely regretted not doing
so the next day. That whole day we wan
dered aimlessly about over the endless
prairies, and not so much as an Insignificant
gopher made It's appearance to fall before
our shotguus The cravings of hunger and
thirst now began to assert themselves and in
our frenzied wanderings the truth dawned
upon us that we were l3st. Lost! Lost, in
deed, upon q scorching prairie that seemed TO
have no outlet, no trees, no water, no green
grass, and not fowl or animal in sight.
The situation was horrible to contemplate
Our faithful horses tongues were lolling
from their mouths, and we were so weak
from hunger that it was with great difficulty
we remained in the saddles.
Two days without water is harder on
human being than gong without food for a
week, and we saw starvation and death
gauntly staring US in the face. How we man
aged to drag through the hours of that awful
night | can never relate. 1t was well on to
noon before We considered ourselves sutf-
. ciently rested TO resume the hunt for sign
of civilization. The suns burning rays
seemed TO be hotter and more relentless than
ever We soon stopped, as we were too
fatigued to proceed any farther Simultane-
ously it dawned upon US all that this was to
be our last day upon earth, and with a
brotherly shake of the hand We lay prone
upon the ground awaiting the now welcome
coming OF death.
Harry Hale suddenly sprung upon his feet
grabbed his shotgun, placed the muzzle tc
his brain, and would have pulled the trigger
and ended his earthly troubles but for my
> timely interference.
POOR HARRY'S FATE
bs He then rushed to one Of the horses and sho
eu 1t dead. Hardly had the animal fallen befor
ar Hale, with childish glee, pounced upon tn
PROSTATE body, slaShei its throat with hi
ea' hunting knife, and applied his mouth TO tn
. hot, gushing blood. drinking i. down with
nd. gluttonous appetite.
ly, The sight Of flowing blood nerved US t
e' almost desperation, and we crowded to th
yet dying horse, roughly pushed Hale aside
and eagerly sucked the ebbing hfes blood
believe TO this day that nothing has eve
tasted better in nv life Our existence wa
prolonged now for at least a short perioC
and our lips moved in grateful prayer.
A wild, maniacal shout from Hale a
tracred my attention. Great heavens! tt
mailman was mounted on one of the hors,
and tearing away, He was glancing bac
sad pointing ahead and screaming at the &c
d bis lungs: "Wateri Watergn One of |
must be left behind. One horse was dea
and three persons could not ride upon Il
TWO animals, that were now very weak.
- eaJugh wtfrpdpft.strcd 20 I've wafer WIS ses
ii the distance l hastened to acquaint n
ctmpanions of the joyful discovery. Ha
kept gailopiug madly on, looking Meth
way, but furiousy lashing his horse. A ste
er' precipice Ioomed before the rider. but
Pa. heeded it not, and spurred his exhaust
animal to still greater speed. The poor hor
attempted TO swerve from its course al
avoid the yawuing chasm, but Hale motto
nothing but the fascinating dance of wat
on the horizon. They were now but fe
rods from the precipice
Sill the horse was sDureed on
neigled piteously, plunged forward, a
just at its brink stopped stock still and t
ride flew over his head into the bottoml,
Ue | pit. To say that we were horrified would
putting it rather mild. We hastened to t
p scent Of the catastrophe. The horse sto
on tha edge, trembling in terror from he
to foot | carefully approached the bri
and 7eered into the black pit. Nothi
could be discerned all was pitehy darkne
l seind large rock and hurled it to the b
tom. Presently | heard a faint sounc
deep leao down into the very bowels of I
earth. Poor Hale's death came very ca
though terribly unexpected, and no hum
being could make that descent without des
ensuing half way down.
TIE DANCING WATERS
or With heavy hearts we once more sadd
our tir,d horses and followed the alluri
lake An hour passed, but it seemed as if
% We're Just as far away as on the sta
iUa Anothe, hour, another, and another a
still the waters kept dancing and glisteni
in the sunlight an apparently short distal
ahead. We continued the tedious trip, q
happening to look up we discovered to our
NAV thal the supposed lake had entirely v
. ished Eut more welcome sight gree
us. Not many miles to the east the city fr
.NI which ", started loomed up All, sol