The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1891-11-13
CLEAR GRIT.
AN Incident on the Famous Cali.
ente Trail

In their weary journey across the
the barren mesa the travellers had sud-
denly come to halt What they had
dreaded from the time they had left the
stage-road station and set out Oh the
trail had come to pass and they were
sore distressed. Bad water and the
insufferable heat of the desert had
stretched Big Bunster out on his blank
let's, and he was talking about his moth
-er and asking the others to break the
news to her gently.
Bunster had not felt well when he
left Flagstaff, but, like the well-mean-
ing young idiot that he was. he per-
SISTED in facing the dangers of the trail
with the others So, as he grew less
steady on his burro. and the fever took
"a firmer hold upon his big, lazy body,
his head dropped lower over the POM
mel, and Jim Yost the guide and the
.only man of the whole six of them who
really knew what danger the big fell
Gow was in, determined to call halt.
~ don't want to see him die in his
saddle" Jim said in a whisper to Zach
sRawlhIs, land unless we kin git him
sinter more comfortable shape, he'll
-croall afore shutdown"
So they paused in the shade of a mass
of rocks, piled up in the fashion the
Titans had of doing things in the days
when the Grand canyon of the Colorado
was young. And they were nightly
glad to rest there. for to be stared out
of contenance all day long by such a
sun as only the great desert knows, is
enough to drive man long way to-
ward shady spot.
Big Bunster felt easier, but he knew
he would die, he said, unless he could
get sip of decent water. He saw
clearly enough that that was impoesi-
BILE, and so, in his lazy way, he was
betting go of the strings of life.
Don't wait for me to die. boys" he
<said; keep along on your way, or you
will all drop down as l have done. 1
always was rather slow. and want to
take my own time dying. Don't stop
for me-" Then he looked up into Zach
Rawlins' face and smiled one of the
.queerest, ghastliest smiles Zach had
ever seen. And then Zach, who was
the best and trucst friend Big Bunster
had ever had, stuck his heels in the
sand, and said it was a beastly shame
that such good fellow should come to
such an end. He wanted to know why
their miserable guide had led them so
far out OF the way, why they were
here, forty miles from nowhere, and
why the guide had promised to find a
Sspring when he had known nothing of
its existence, and why. in the name of
=an that was holy, something could not
be done.
"Wal, yer needn't git so cursed
-,riled," rasped out the grim Yost
"'Nuthin' kin be did now We can't
go no further, or your man'n dropdead
as that snake-skin thar. As it is, ,he
stands some show. Wen strike Ca
lienSe trail afore dusk, when its gifts
cooler. It's right over thar" and the
rugged Yost pointed a knotty forefin-
ger across white expanse, over which
lines of heat were quivering as if the
very air writhed under the pitiless fire
from on high.
what good will it do Bunster, if we
do get there?" whispered some one.
''Good?" returned the guide; why.
thar's water four mile from that air
trail-ef we kin git down to it"
''Git down TO it! OF course we will"
spoke up Rawlins- ''Cheer up, old
man." said he, soothingly, TO the
parched Bunster, whose tongue was
sout and whose eyes were staring
across the train toward Caliente trail:
Nthere's water over there, and you
shall have good drink, my boy"
"Water-yes, / see it; it's sort of
igray-blue, isn't it? Why, there's a
great lake-what sightr' and the
thirst-plagued man stared at the pic
ture his disorted vision had cenjured
up; and, drawing in his tongue, ne
pressed his cracked lips together, as If
gluiDg them to the brim of glass full
of the sparkling liquid. for which he
would have given anything he pos
sessed for one soul-satisfying swallow.
His torture, and that of the friend who
watched over him while he lay tossing
on his blankets, was allayed to de-
cree few hours later. when the fierce