Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1892-06-16
A WHOLE MAN.

A sensitive man mas no business on
the desert. He will get prodded every
where. If he take offense at rough ban
ter, Lord help him when he gets into a
mining camp. If he wear his heart
upon his sleeve, let him steer clear Of
the Mexican towns and their pretty sen
oritas. If he would know any peace.
let him keep away from the cattle
range, for the cowboys jests are as keen
and cutting as the spurs at their heels.
Frank Robbins was beginning to find
out some of these things. But if you
gave him whole decade he would not
find them all out
'sWhat the boy wants is toughening, ("
said Mart Selby.
Mart was big and tough, and he saw
no good reason why anybody but child
or woman should be tender.
"Hes a young colt that wants Mex
icaD bit showed into his mouth, and then
to be ridden through the cactus"
At Lucin's ranch the boys joked and
irritated Robbins, but it did not seem to
tougher him. They cared nothing for
whisky that didn't scratch as it went
down, and when he put water in his
they called him perfect lady and
laughed loudly.
''Stand their joshing," said Mart to
Robbins, .'and you'll get along better.
They'll always make it hot for a man
that don't josh back"
''Oh, don't mind it," said Robbins,
badly OVERRIDING his effort to look un-
concerned.
1t had been the same everywhere he
had been in the west He was one Of
those men who are never anything but
tenderfeet. He simply would not take
men as he found them, though they
were perfectly willing TO take him so.
And the absurd ideas that had lodgment
in his headi Chief among these were
that he must have friend-a chum-
who should be a man after his own
heart. He had been looking for such
man for two years. He picked him out
occasionally, but he never found him to
suit. This one was not truthful, that
one was not temperate and the other
was not nice in his speech. There was
something lacking in each one.
what l want is a whole man." he
sighed. II never could take up with
these half made fellows. But it is not
so easy. Even when l find man that
is temperate and intellectual he turns
out to be selfish. What would / NOT
give for a whole man for friend and
companion-a whole man.
He would not take mp with Mart Sci
by, though Mart saw '.the young fel-
low" sorely needed a friend and helper,
particularly one who would tougher
him. He kept on looking for his made
to-order man, but he never seemed to
hit upon him. Few such men as he was
locking for are to be found within
thousand miles Of Lucin's In fact, at
Lucin's you would be at loss to dis
cover single man who did not like to
take observations at Old Ashbys cloth
and paper ceiling through the bottom of
a whisky glass, and if You heard voice
| will give you my word of honor it was
no cherub's.
One day the boys outdid all their
little meannesses to Robbins by getting
him hopelessly drunk Of course it
was nc killing matter, but he had never
been drunk before, and he took it very
seriously and resolved to leave camp
next day.
Mart did not like this His heart had
warmed toward 1.-THE young fellow,
and he hated to see him leave the place.
Finally he resolved to go with him.
They agreed between them that they
would not 60 on the range again. They
would go prospecting for gold.
And thus it was that they came to
make the journey over the desert to-
ward Dead Horse gulch. Now, as every
body in that country knows, the wealth
of Dead Horse gulch is great, but it is
very hard to reach. Miners, who have
lived out the awful heat of the alkali
plain that lies all around the buttes
wherein the gulch makes its cash. have
come back with full belts, but none of
them has ever gone a second time.
In suggesting this journey Mart Selby
had double object. First, he wanted
to tougher "the young fellow" and
next, he wanted to enrich them both.
Mart knew that Robbins had come out
west to make enough money to marry a
nice girl who lived in Delaware, and he
knew, too, that the young fellow had
found money making very slow work.
From Lucin's to the great alkali plain
that lay before the buttes in which the
gold was hidden was long and toll
some journey. But the real work only
began with the crossing of the alkali
desert
White and naked lay the dead land
before their aching eyes. The eye of
heaven shone down with most unrelent-
ing fierceness. No breath of air was
stirring, and the whole world was to
them as dumb as death.
Mart had counted ON the journey be-
ing hard one, but not SO hard as this.
He had not dreamed that the water
would give ont SO soon, nor that the
horses would sink down and die as they
did.
Still they staggered on. their forms,
bent under their heavy burdens, stand
ing out sharp and raw above the white
earth, on which their clearly defined
shadows fell with inky blackness.
In that cloudless, mistless air, distance
seemed set at naught, for they travelled
on and on toward the buttes, and yet
they seemed to grow no nearer.
It was toward evening that they
reached rocky islet i'll the sea of alkali.
and there, after very bad meal of hard
tack, they fell asleep, Robbins dreaming
Of clear, cold water, drawn from marble
fountains in crystal goblets. The young
man was the first to awake The sun
was beginning to shoot his fiery needles
over the mountain. Robbins lifted his
hand to rub his eyes
'sR-r-z-z-zr'
Then tongue Of flame darted toward
him and struck him on the palm Of the
hand.
MY God" he groaned, ''it's rattle-
snake, and he's bitten mer'
His voice seemed to awaken a hundred
echoes, and to these responded hun
dred rattles.
Selby sat up in his blanket and stared
at him stupidity. AS he made the move
ment rattlesnake struck him in the
face, and another at his side would have
done the same had he not thrown him
self out Of reach Of his deadly fangs
The rattles resounded on every side.
The txrO men ran back to a stretch Of