The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1892-06-30
A WHOLE MAN.

ter, Lord help him when he gets into a
mining camp. II he wear his heart
upon his sleeve, let him steer clear of
the Mexican towns and their pretty sem
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 a whole decade he would not
find them all out.
what the boy wants is toughening,"
said Mart Selby.
Mart was big and tough, and he saw
no good reason why anybody-but child
OF a woman should be tender.
"He's young colt that wants Mex
lean bit showed into his mouth, and then
to be ridden through the cactus"
At Lucin's ranch the boys joked and
Iirritated 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 a perfect lady and
laughed loudly.
"Stand their joshing," said Mart to
Robbins, land you'll get along better.
They'll always make it hot for man
that don't josh back"
"Oh, don't mind it," said Robbins,
badly OVERRIDING his effort to look I'M
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 30.
And the absurd ideas that had lodgment
in his headi Chief among these were
that he must have friend-a chum-
who should be man after his own
heart. He had been looking for such a
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 | want is q whole man." he
sighed. II never could take up with
these half made fellows. Bnt it is not
SO easy. Even when / find man that
is temperate and intellectual he turns
out to be selfish. What would not
give for whole man for q friend and
! companion-a whole man!'
+ He would not take up with Mart Sci,
by, though Mart saw "the young fell
, low sorely needed friend and helper
, particularly one who would tougher
him. He kept on looking for his made
} to-order man, but he never seemed tc
hit upon him. Few such men as he was
locking for are to be found within 9
thousand miles of Lucin's. In fact, al
Lucin's you would be at q loss to dis
cover single man who did not like tx
and paper ceiling through the bottom O.
a whisky glass, and if you heard voic'
/ will give you my word of honor it wa
no cherub's.
One day the boys outdid all theil
little meannesses to Robbins by getting
him hopelessly drunk. OF course j
was no killing matter, but he had neve
been drunk before, aud he took it yer,
seriously and resolved to leave CAM
next day.
Mart did not like this. His heart hat
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 the,
would not go on the range again. The,
would so prospecting for gold.
And thus it was that they came
make the journey over the desert tc
Il ward Dead Horse gulch. Now, as every
body in that country knows, the wealt
of Dead Horse gulch is great, but it
/, very hard to reach. Miners, who hay
:, lived out the awful heat of the aka
plain that lies all around the butte
wherein the gulch makes its cash, hav
| come back with full belts, but none c
them has ever gone second time.
In suggesting this journey Mart Selb
II had double object. First, he wante
{ to tougher "the young fellow" an
next, he wanted to enrich them boil
Mart knew that Robbins had come on
IS west to make enough money to marry
Y nice girl who lived in Delaware, and b
:. knew, too, that 1.-THE young fellow" ha
q found money making very slow work.
o From Lucin's to the great alkali plai
that lay before the buttes in which til
Eold was hidden was long and tot
{, rome journey. But the real work onl
!, began with the crossing of the aka
a. desert.
White and naked lay the dead Ian
IS before their aching eyes. The eye {
heaven shone down with most unrelen
ing fierceness. No breath of air wa
stirring, and the whole world was
them as dumb as death.
Mart had counted on the journey b.
ing hard one, but not so hard as thi
He had not dreamed that the waite
would give out SO soon, nor that til
|. horses would sink down and die as the
did.
Still they staggered on, their form:
q bent under their heavy burdens, stans
ing out sharp and raw above the whit
earth, on which their clearly define
shadows fell with inky blaclsness.
In that cloudless, mistless air, distano
2. seemed set at naught, for they travele
on and on toward the buttes, and "
they seemed to grow no nearer.
IL was toward evening that the
reached rocky islet in the sea of alRal
and there, after a very bad meal of hal
tack, they fell asleep, Robbins dreanin
d of clear, cold water, drawn from lnarbl
fountains in crystal goblets. The youn
man was the first to awake. The su
= was beginning to shoot his fiery needle
\ over the mountain. Robbins lifted h
n hand to rub his eyes.
lS "R-r-z-z-z!"
81 Then tongue of flame darted iowa,
him and struck him on the palm of IL
hand.
My God" he groaned, "it's rattl
snake, and he's bitten mel"
His voice seemed to awaken hundre
echoes, and to these responded hui
dred rattles.
Selby sat up in his blanket and stare
at him stupidity, AS he made the NOV
ment rattlesnake struck him in IL
n \ n \