The morning call., 1893-01-15

This was a serious state Of affairs.
Ferguson finally got off the animal
and taking the reins walked ahead and the
haerse followed unwiillDgly. The shadows
turneIt TO darkness, and after an hour Fer
Guson vas nearly exhausted and had not
found the hummOck which led to his
friends and water. There were a few
tabespOon1uls left in bis canteen, which he
must save in case of accident.
The darkness now became blackness, and
the foothills which eHRld be seen an hour
ago had became invisible. The only guide
for the exhausted man and horse were the
stars which shone al their brightest.
There was no use of eXhausting himself
going further. so halt was made. The
horse lay down at once and began painting
for breath. The south wind had stopped :
but the heat, II anything, was more intense
What the horse suffered none can tell,
but the man went through all the fortunes
Of the inferno. The few drops of water
must be saved until morning. Perhaps his
friends would come and hunt for him
meanwhile. and then all would sbe well.
he lay down on the heated sand and
looked up to the SKY and wondered if in
the other worlds that rolled through space
people suffered as they did here. He made
up his mind to start as soon as the first
gray streak Of dawn enabled him to see his
way.
He did not intend to sleep, and indeed it
seemed impossible, so intense was the
humid heat He was not thirsty any longer,
and feeling Of GOODNESS passed over him,
and the next Instant he was sound asleep.
When he awoke the sun was high in the
heavens and the burning breath Of the
south wind was again blowing. His horse
had get up and started for the foothills,
which were not more than three
miles away. The man did not rec
ognize the landscape, but concluded
10 follow the horses trail. which he felt
sure would lead to water. 1t was not far,
bat the mans feet were so heavy. He
thought be was walking fast, but at noon
he had not covered more than half
the distance. and he could see
his horse ahead, slowly dragging one
foot after the other. In another
hour the horse fell exhausted and his owner
soon caught up. But the canteen was
empty. Nothing could be done for the ami
NAL So Ferguson left him to die
and pushed forward. The sun was
again getting low, and the man had
also fallen On the sand when within
a few hundred yards Of the foothills,
where water might be found il the horses
instinct counted for anything. When the
horse fell he staid where he was, but the
man had the power Of crawling. He threw
away his empty canteen and revolYers and
slowly covered the short distance to the
place where some stun ted vegetation existed.
Water might be very near now IL he only
had strength enough to crawl to it-and
over the rough stones and prickly blades of
dead grasses and soon came to sort of
gully ia which stones and pebbles were
thickly piled, giving every indication Of
what might have been a watercourse.
He dragged himself along. Twilight had
fallen when he saw short distance a
small hole ia the rocky trail; surely it was
a spring at one time. If ii was not dried
up he would soon quench his thirst. He
had almost reached the place and saw a
CLINT Of light that told plainly there was
water there, and at the same time he saw a
large panther lying near by as If on guard.
The beast groWled at first, but did not
spring at the man.
Ferguson, after celebrating over the sit
uation, concluded he would die Of thirst in
a few hours anyway. and might as we'll end
his agony at once.
He crawled to the spring and found it did
not contain more than quart of water.
The panther gr0Wled. but made no move to
touch him.
He put his head down and commenced to
drink The water was SO good be must
drink IT all. AS the email quantity was
diminishing the n1nmer came close up and
growled. = stopped drinking, and the
So- sts threatening attitude made him move
back little, while the panther went to the
hole and drank what was left.
The few drops had only quickened the
mans craving for more. and be waited on
one side OF the spring and the panther on
the other for the small hole to ill up again.
The water came IN very slowly. but at last
the hole was full, and Ferguson crawled to
1t again aud commenced to drink. The
panther acted as before and made him stop
when he had taken draught. The panther
then drank the rest
This was repeated several times and the
man soon gained IN strength. The beast
seemed willing that he should nave half, but
no more.
When Ferguson got so he could stand ND
he went to the spring and drank again. He
paid no attention to the warning growI, but
kept on drinking. and when he had emptied
the hole he drew his knife.
The beast made a jump and caught him
by the throat and at the same instant the
knife was buried in its heart.
The Dext N orning both were found dead
where they fell by the mem ers of the
surveying party, and drinking peacefully
from the pool was tie horse that had fallen
on tue sand, but got up again when night
came and found water. WILL SPARKS.