The record-union., 1892-10-15

certain than that his master would never
see the Irednoke ranch again. 1t seemed
unusually hot, even FOR that region.
There was little in the way of outward
incident to relieve the monotony of the
journey. Now and then short, thick
rattlesnake; with horns on its ugly head,
wriggled out of his path. Now and then
his horses hoof almost trod upon hid
eous, fiat lizard, also horned. Here and
there the uncoutn projections of cactus
pushed upward out of the dust. Some of
these the mustang nlbbled at for the sake
OF their juice. Freeman wondered where
the juice cane from. The floor of the
desert seemed for the most part level,
though there was a gradual dip toward
the east and northeast, and occasionally
mounds and ridges of wind-swept dust,
sometimes upward of fifty feet in hight.
broke the uniformity. The soil was
largely composed OF powdered feldspar,
but there were also tracts of gravel shin
gle. eOf yellow loan, and of alkaline dust.
In some places there appeared a salt
alhorescence, Sprouting up III a sort of
CHASTITY vegetation, as If death had ac
quired sinister life. Elsewhere the
ground quaked and yielded under foot,
and 1t became necessary to make detours
to avoid these arid boys. Once or twice,
too, Freeman turned aside lest he should
trample upon some dry bones that pro-
truded IN his path-boneS that were their
own monument and told their own story
OF struggle, agony, exhaustion and des-
pair.
None of these things had any depress-
ing effect on Freeman's spirit. His heart
was singing with JOY. TO mind logi-
cally disposed there was nothing but
trouble IN sight, whether he succeeded or
lalIed III his present mission. In the for
mer case he would find himself in a hos
tile position as regarded the man he most
desired to conciiiate; in the latter be
would remain.the mere rolling stone that
he was before, and love itself would for
bid him to ask the woman ne loved to
share his uncertain existence. But Free
man was not logical; he was happy and
he could not help it. He had kissed Mi
Ram and she loved him.
His course lay a few degrees north of
east Ear across the plain, dancing and
turning somerSaults i'll the fantastic at
nosphere, were the SUBMITS OF range
of abrupt hills, the borders OF valley or
ravine which he wished to explore.
Gradually, as he rode, his shadow length
ened before him. 1t was his only COM
panion, and yet he felt no sense Of loneli-
ness. Miriam was III his heart, and kept
1t fresh and bod. Even hunger and
thirst he scarcely felt. Who can estimate
the therapeutic and hygienic effects of
love?
The mustang could not share his riders
| conscious, through animal instincts
whereof we know nothing, Of an uplift-
ing and encouraging spirit. AT all events
| he kept up his steady lope without falt-
erIng or apparent effort, and seemed to
| require nothing more than the occasional
WetUIng which Freeman administered to
! his nose. There would probably be some
| vegetation, and perhaps water, on the
| hills, and that prospect may likewise have
| helped him along.
Nevertheless, man and beast may well
! have welcomed the hour when the cray-
| gy activities of that lonely range became
! so near that they seemed to loom above
their heads. Freeman directed his steps
! toward the southern extremity, where a
! huge, pallld mass OF almost regular
| pyramidal form, reared itself aloft like a
| monument. He skIrted the base of the
| pyramid, and there opened on his view a
| narrow, winding valley, scarcely half a
| mile in apparent breadth, and of q very
| wild and savage aspect. Its general di-
| rectlon was nearly north and south, and
! 1t declined downward as If seeking the
| interior OF the earth. In fact. it look ed
| not unlike those imaginative pictures of
| the road to the Internal regions described
| by the ancient poets. One could picture
| Pluto in his chariot, with PrOSerpine be-
side him. laundering downward behind
| his black horses on the way to those SOM
| Der and magnificent regions which are
followed out beneath the surface of the
| planet.
| Freeman, however, presently saw a
sight which, if less spectacularly i'm
! pressive, was far more agreeable to his
| eyes. On shelf or cup Of the declivity
was little clump of vegetation, and in
| the midst of it welled up a thin stream of
water. The mustang scrambled eagerly
toward it, and before Freeman had had
! time to throw himself out of the saddle,
he had plunged his muzzle into the rivu-
let. He sucked it down with such salts
faction that it was evident the water was
| not salt. Freeman laid himself prone
upon the brink and followed his steeds
example. The draught was cool and
pure.
II didn't know how much L wanted
it, said he to himself. at must come
from good way down. If 1 could only
bring the parent stream to the surface
my mission would be on fair road to
success"
An examination of the spring revealed
the fact that it could not have been long
in existence. Indeed, there were no traces