The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1892-09-30

I mere, rate, she THINKS, thou hast no more
\ TO do"
When, midst the clouds, that darker grew tho
| while,
Array Of sunshine, struggling slowly through,
Teaches her she has strength TO suffer still,
And with one CLEAN Of joy doth all her pain
i renew.
| M. ]. serrano in Harper's Bazaar.
i ---------
| LISH.
! A clump Of scraggly cacti grew against
the shack and scratched its implanted
side when the wind blew hard. But 1t was
npt blowing at all now. and the same heat
that throbbed over the desert and warped
the sky line was curling the shakes ator
the shack and sending every breathing
thing on Alkali Flat. even to the lizards,
Into the shade.
| There were just three rooms in the
shack. and Lish's was the end one, next
to the kitchen. The little house was closed
as tight as a drum to keep in whatever OF
the nights GOODNESS rexnzEined in it, which
was little enough.
I Lish-the whole of 1t was Alicia-sat in
her room and talked with her mother, who
was peeling potatoes in the kitchen. AL.
though in separate rooms, their sharp
Missourian voices were clear enough &c
each other There was Just one thing t.
talk about, and nearly everything on earth
that could be said about IL had been said
DO they had been going over it all again.
1t was pap's big strike.
I SIT amt dead sure, ye know, Lish,'
wound up the mother; "but it looks as
near like 1t as one jackrabbit looks like
drnother."
"ole pap's workin awful hard. amt he,
maw~
| II reckon he is" .-... ....
Lish looked out through the small win.
dow. Her glance shot past the two rails
that glimmered under the angry sun, down
there by Alkali Flat station, past the two
scurrying dust demons that showed there
was air in motion somewhere, even though
tporadically and away over to the blue
Duties. There was q notch in the ia,
butte--Scrub Canon, they called it. Par
was working there in that notch, under
that awful sun, in the restless way that
pap always worked. He was there alone
digging his pick into the dry ground and
scanning each clod and broken rock for the
yellow specks that meant 80 much to him
and that were to put something better
than a shake roof over their heads,
| She felt for him that horrible heat; she
saw the drops of sweat trickle from his
brow and plash upon the rocks, making
their dark mark there for an instant and
drying up in another; she felt, as she put
IT, "the spring goin out of her." just as II
was going out Of "ole pap"
/ But he wouldn't let me help him-nev.
er would, even eff he was a-workin his two
hans off," she sighed.
Y Then she went and set the table for din
ner They ate in silence. Lish and "maw. ;
There was no good talking it all over
again. It would not do to count too much
on it, anyway. Other strikes had been il
promise year after year and nothing hat
come OF them, absolutely nothing.
The afternoon wore on. The glare had
gone out of the day. They opened tn,
house to let in the growing coolness out
side, watching for ''ole pap's" dust mean
time and wondering what news he would
bring He was late, but he had been late
before. They sat on the doorstep and
glued their eyes to the notch in the butte
which had begun to blur as the sun had
gone to make an oven of some other part oil
the world.
There he comes" Lish would saw, but
IL was only a dust demon trying to tricl
them.
And so the night grew on, but the full
horn Of an early moon shone down, ant
still they watched.
Guess I'd better go over an see Of
KANT raise him." said Lish. IAN of he'l
a-goin ter stay out all night he'll need =
blanket. I'll take him one an come back
with the news, whatever it is. Git the
blanket out, NAV, an I'll go an buckle the
sheepskin onto ole jim"
The desert night told its secrets to the
girl as she rode the slow mustang over the
trail to the buttes. And the desert night
holds many secrets for those who care to
hear them, but it did not whisper the dark.
est OF them to Lish that night. The air
came warm and then chill as she passed
through the different strata that were from
low, hot plain or frigid mountain top. Old
Jim was so slow. He minded no more the
hicks from the strap end than he did the
brushing of the greasewood past his lean
form. He did make plunge now and
then, but that was when a cactus spine
pricked his side.
At last the girl reached tho canyon, which
seemed to be done In black and white, SO
light did the moon make the exposed parts,
and 80 inky were the shadows. 1t was
frightfully quiet In there. As she went
along she heard the whinny Of her father
horse, tethered beside the wall of rock.
She left Old Jim to MUNICH the mesquite
near by, while she tripped up steep trail,
and came to the cash her father had made
with pick and shovel in the lone canyon
side
There he was, sitting ON the ground and
leaning against a rock. The moon shone
upon his patched oyeralls and upon his
dusty shirt; but she could not see his face
for his head was bent forward and was
hidden by the brim of his SLOUGH hat.
Pap" her sharp voice stabbed the quiet,
al came up ter see ef you was ever comm
home. l brung a blanket, pap, case yer
wanted to stay all night. You oughter "a
come home hours and hours ago, stead o.
workin an workin till you was all tagged
out"
He did not lift his head. A puff of cold
wind came down the canyon, and striking
the girls breast made her shiyer.
'Sleepin on the rocksi WAL, l swun.
Tux too much outen the black bottle, ri
bet"
She stepped nearer.
"Hullo, papi You amt drunk agin, be
your Pap, papi Pm clean 'shamed o. you'll"
She leaped to the rock, gave him dig
in the side of his leg with her stoutly
leathered toe and then shook his shoulder.
Pap, wake upl You'll catch yer death
a-cold sleepin out this way An here
we've BEN a-watchin out fer We an watchin
till our eyes was most give out, while
you've BEN up here hayin good ole guz-
zlin time, all by yerseif, an not carin a
cuss. It's playin us darned mean, pap, an
You know it."
She shook his shoulder again. His head
fell back. The face was chalky white.
God, papi What is itf"
She felt his face, 1t was stone cold. The
touch froze her. She felt his heart. The
throb was gone out of it.
Pap, papp' and all the canyon heard
her sharp, desolate cry; my ole papl He
amt deadf"
a big lizard went scattering down the
slope, an owl in a scrub oak near by gave
4 al hn 81