Omaha daily bee., 1892-02-14

DeIore. lie seems terrible sad an is
| cussin' considerable. We went inside.
and sure enough we found Johnnie
| "cussin' considerable" He was one of
those tall, slender, willowy men whose
| feet and hands seem to have been de-
| veloped at the expense OF tha rest OF his
body.
| lie was standing near the stove pic
| ture OF woe, with n most miserable look
| ing infant thrown over one arm, head
downward while with the disengaged
hand he was trying to fry meat, turning
1T by tossing up the pieces In the pan
and catching them on the rebound. This
process naturally splashed the hot
grease on the father and child. The
former became more profane, the latter
wept louder and deeper each time u
piece was turned We offered to mind
the baby for Johnnie, and as he turned
him over to our care he made the fol-
lowing apology: Ladies, excuse my
language, but it makes me so -
when things comes TO such pass as
this, that mans wife will do up her
ball dress in gripsack, go to q ball in
Lander and leave man to get dinner
and mind the baby. Why, ladies', it
makes me so gol darned hot don't know
what | am saying
We made our next stopping place be-
fore nightfall. Here our accommoda-
tions were quite luxurious in compari.
son to the other road ranches. The
walls OF the room were covered with
white cheese cloth neatly tackled over
the cottonwood poles and mud plaster
AT the other stations they had been
bare. Some attempt at decoration had
been made by tacking 'beforo and
after" patent medicine advertisements
on the walls. There was also a motto
over the front poor requesting Provi-
dence to bless the promises. In fact the
refining presence of a woman asserted
itself in a number of remarkable de-
vices accredited with making home
happy' WpS wsro t;roa from ,no continued
joitlng and the long drive under the
broiling sun. We should have been
glad to retire Immediately after supper,
but our landlady said it was such II
spell since she had seen any women
ok" that we submitted to her cate
chism regarding the shape OF bopnets,
the cut of gowns and such like feminine
matters. Among other things the land
lady told us she kept government
for her chiluren, who was 'an elegant
educated young lady from Nebrasky and
wrote in a dairy" After an introduce
tion to thus combination of talents, how
ever, we felt sure that whatever evil
dences of genius were locked in the
pages OF her dairy, her conversational
efforts did not promise second Bash.
kirtseff.
The room in which we were to sleep
had several beds. Just as we were about
to retire, the landlady again appeared
and asked us if we would have any OBJ
jections TO sleeping In the same room
with "the lady what did her cooking y
She was closely followed by the lady in
question, who resembled nothing so
much as mutton chop grown cold in its
own gravy or fried potato which had
been drained. Any objections we had
to accepting this lady as a room mato
would have to be made in her presence,
and as she was such forlorn, tired look
ing old thing we had not the heart TO re-
ject her.
After leaving Rouge's. which is the
name of tho last station, we were obliged
to continue our journey without the aid
of road ranches, as the country between
there and Lost Cabin was entirely un-
settled. Our mess box was we'll sup
Piled with provisions, but we were fear
fully short of water, our road SO far hay
ing been through a section of country
watered by alkali creeks, the streams of
pure water having dried. Along the
route we were obliged to drink water
which had been brought from Lost Cabin
to Rawllns a week before.
Our road lay through the Muskrat
canyon. Since the beginning of our jour
ney we had not seen a tree or n leaf.
The sun poured down, blistering our
hands and faces, swelling our lips, until
we lost all resemblance to white people.
The wagon jolted down gulches and rat
tied over foothills OF. the Big Horn
mountains. a more desolate tract of
country it would be impossible to find;
rocks and powders were prinkled over
the desert waste as if they had been
shaken from some mammoth pepper box.
Great white alkali patches spread over
the ground, looking from the distance
like clothes bleaching in the !sun, but
never the trace of a dwelling.
We journeyt.d till sunset, the clouds |
of dust which the team created causing
a dreadful thirst, and water in the casli |
getting lower. We had hoped to find a
creek not poisoned with alkali, but the |
believing of the cattle for water con-
vinced us before reaching the place that |
the stream had dried. The sun had set;
it was impossible to proceed further that |
night. We camped by the parched bed /
OF the stream, and cooked and washed |
with the little water remaining in the !
cask.
Nature, as though in some measure to
compensate this desolate region, makes
the sun set over the Bad Lands with
which is beyond descrip-
tion. The parched hills, too sterile even
to support IL growth of sagebrush, the
dusty road and the white alkali patches
which never know the benefit of drop
of moisture, take on II reflected glory.
Along the western horizon the deep red
light glows far into the night, softening
this scene of unparalleled desolaton.
We built a fire, ate supper and slept
under the broad canopy of heaven, our
ears full of the sounds of the suffering
cattle. The only thing that sustained
us the next morning was the thought
that we would reach our journeys end
that day. We drove along the remain
ing number of miles, too thirsty to COM
plain. AT last the struggling outhouses
Of the ranch were in sight The Israel
ties could not have welcomed their first