Grand Rapids herald. [volume] (Grand Rapids, Mich.) 1892-1959, 1892-10-29

of the hand
MY God. he groaned. Its rattle
snAks, and he's bitten me-
Ills voice seemed ~ awaken hun
dred echoes, and 70 these responded
hundred ratIles.
Seiby sat up ia his blanket and
stared at him stupidity. As he made
the movement. . rattlssnaAe struck
him IL the face, aad another, az his
side, would have done the same had
he not thrown himself out of reach
Of nis deadly fangs
The rattles resounded on every side
The two men ran back To a stretch of
sAaa beyond the rocks aad gszed At
each other wildly.
Hold still, demanded Mart ''Let
me look At your bite
lie grasped the boys hand
Thank God. it's aot in the yeinr'
He seized his knife and quick hol-
lowed out a piece Of the tiesh.
There, hold your hand down and
let the blood run free, while tie this
cord around your arm
He twisted the stout cord until il cut
into the arm
Now, the whisky" he gasped.
No" said Robbins, ''let me cut the
poison out of your wound"
Mart held still q moment while this
was being done.
Now, the whisky-quick" cried
Robbins
/ But selby did not look for the bring
| ing forth OF the flask with any light of
hope in his eyes
lit is yours" he said. quietly.
| There is only enough for one. and
barely that"
Then it is yours, Mart"
"No-yours.
! But you are the worse bitten. Your
face is already beginning To swell.
Drink it,
There was anguish in the tone, as
there was heroism in the words; but it
/ was heroism of the weakly sort He
| held out the bottle at arms Icing tn,
| while he turned his face away.
mo. by Cod It's yours, boy" came
In firmer and more commanding tone
from Mart Selby. You have a mother
and a sweetheart baelt In the States.
And IL have nobody. There WAS
some body once, but there amt nobody
now-no body at all. "
In the face Of this fearful tempta-
ton. Robins felt himself weakening.
He grew less strong of resolution with
each tick of the watch in his pocket.
heard SO plainly in the desert stiffness.
What q coward he felt himself; but
how sweet was life.
Was there not help to be had from
some other source? He could not take
this The drinking of that liquid was
the drinking of Selby's life, and that
life meant much to him now. Here
was the whole man.
His eye swept the hopeless plain.
He looked for the dust" of traveller.
out he saw none. The heat of the day
was growing. He thought he felt the
poison pulsing through his veins.
"No-no," he said, sinking down
upon the sand. And there was pitia-
bic weakness in his tone.
Selby took the bottle from his hand.
As he did so a shade of fear arose tc
Robbins face. Selby saw it and
smiled. The swollen face made the
smile srotesque; but, none the less, il
was the smile of god He came for
ward and knelt beside the crouching
form of Robbins, who. lying on his
face with his eyes shut, begged him
not to think of him, but of himself
But the tone was growing weaker.
The other said no word, but, lifting
his friends head, ne uncorked the bot
tie and held it to his lips A look OF
remonstrance came to Robbins face,
aud he raised his hand To push away
the bottle Just then he glanced up
ward A buzzard was circling abou,
in the clear. blue air. He shivered
and, as the neck of the bottle wa.
forced between his teeth, and
Selby was holding back his head,
how could he help swallow
ing? The look of remonstrance
faded slowly away as the liquid gurgleC
from the bottle Soon it was al
drained The boys head sunk to tn,
ground. and a heavy sleep laid hole
upon him
When he awoke there lay by his sid,
the body of a man with pistol bullet
in his bead.
4