Sharp County record., 1890-02-13

of the alkali glittered on every sue
dazzling my eyes. My horse was jadedi
| began to feel grave apprehenslonS'
Could it be that l had mistaken some
other trail for theirs? least my eyes oil
the ground. No trail was visible. !
had lost it, and was myself lost!
For moment my heart failed me-
Then, manning myself, | bore on my LETT
rein, and began to ride in great circle
In twenty minutes l struck a trail-lt
was nv own. Well, would try larger
circle still.
Just as / started, my mustang raised
his head, snorted and neighed. lnyol-
UNFAIRLY glanced up. What | saw sent
shock of superstitious terror to my
heart.
In the empty air above my head, at a
distance in front of me of apparently
half mile, | saw Giles, Dick and the
mule Jogging slowly along side by SIDE
The figures were distinct and perfectly
recognizable and, as say, seemed to be
moving on the empty air. ! passed my
hand over my eyes and looked again.
There was no mistake. But this assur-
ance had the effect of restoring my
euuanimity If what | saw was not I.
mere hallucination of my brain, there
was only one other thing it could be- IL
was an Observation-Disclosures mirage
| The fgure-phantoms that | saw were
! the magnifed reflections upon the aI-
mosphere of their real flesh-and-blood
prototypes. But, as the latter were no
where visible, they could not be alta less
distance than twenty miles. If | took
the bearings and rode on, | should over
take them in time.
The spectacle was so wonderful, how
ever, that involuntarily | thought OF
nv camera. Was it possible to photo
graph mirage? Az any rate, l would
try. Quickly unstrapping the instru-
ment, pointed it towards the apparl-
ton and awaited favorable moment to
null the catch. Just then Dick drew
rein and stopped as if to adjust his STIR
rup. The mule and Giles kept on.
Suddenly Dick rose erect in his saddle
drew and leyeled revolver, and flred.
Giles threw up his hands, reeled and
fell from his horse. At the same mo-
ment, and involuntarily, | flashed the
lens. And then, ike the vanishing OF
a soap-bubble, the whole spectral scene
disappeared, and l was alone in the
desert.
At half-past seven came upon Giles
body. Luckily there was life in it; the
bullet had struck his head and glanced,
stunning him and making an ugly
wound, but not seriously iniuring him.
He explained to me afterwards that
Dick had assured him that by taking a
"short cut" across the desert they would
strike the river at the mythical ''clump
of trees" he had foretOld, Later he had
borrowed his revolver to shoot at rab-
bit, and had kept it. Evidently he had
planned from the beginning to murder
one or both of US, and to get off with the
gold.
Two pieces of rare good luck befell
Giles and l at this moment of Tlr
naed. First, Giles horse caHe-eHteS
up out of the darkness, and allowed
himself to be caught, being, probably,
too much discouraged to travel by
himself. In the second place, we sue
ceeded that night in reaching small
stream, with some timber growing be-
side it. 1t undoubtedly saved both our
lives. The next morning, riding along
the stream, we stumbled upon Dicks
trail, and followed it northwest by west
for thirty miles, to Mineral City, on the
Colorado. Here we communicated with
the sheriff, Tom Fork, who arrested
Dick just as he was leaving town, with
five thousand dollars in greenbacks on
his person. He denied every thing; but
when confronted by Giles, whom he sup
posed to be dead, he blanched little;
and when l produced my photograph
(which had meanwhile developed) he
was overcome by sheer amazement, and
confessed his guilt Dick was clever
fellow, but | never told him the secret
of that photograph, and it is a mystery
to this day.
The last l saw of him he was looking
out of the grated window of Mineral
City Jail.
Well goodbye Dick" | said. "You
have chance to test your philosophy:
"'Good thoughts your only friends;
Your wealth a wellspent age;
The Jail your sober inn"
"All right my boy" he interrupted,
grinning "You got the edge on me,
and I'm not the man to complain.
1t isn't my fault that | was born, but,
being born, the rest came Of itself.
Myself am all my foes as the poet
hath it. Only if l had known the ca
pacities of that camera of yours, I'd
have chucked it into the river instead
of into the bush. Goodbye, my boy,
and put your money into a letter of
credit"
Dick was good fellow in his way
Julian Hawthorne, in n. Y. Ledger.
Henry Ward Beccher on Death.