The National tribune., 1893-01-26


His wits were all ablur, but his bodily
senses felt that the whole land lay on a vast
upward slope a continual gentle pressure
back, as it were, to each toiIsome step he
took. In the late afternoon he felt slight
pulling tendency, sign that he was on an
imperceptible descent; then came q delicate
long pleat in the sand, the ascent began
again, and he fell stupidity down, with some
indistinct fancy of staying there till nothing
was left of him but bones-baked, dusty
bones. But when his face touched the hot
sand he got upagain and trod on He had no
fear of pursuit now, for he was in the Thirst
Land no man entered to return. The Span
iards had spoken of it, and they had let him
go into it, knowing it was but taking the
labor of his destruction off their own hands.
He could imagine them consoling themselves
for the loss of the horse and officer by telling
again the tales of the desert; how to go into
it for an hour was to be lost and to be lost
was to wander round on ones steps, which
meant death finally. Then he resolved to
lie down and bear his pains as a valiant man
might, till night should come and he could
follow one of the stars By this time
little shadow lay at his feet, there was rock
not far away and he went and lay down
there, trying to be sensible and steady
headed. He was glad he kept the sword
now, because if his miseries became too sore
he had with it way to cut them; sleep was
denied him by the keen thirst that baked his
tongue into wood but it was much to escape
the red-hot fingers of the sun.
As he lay there with his battered old hat
over his face the stiffness came terribly ON
him at times. He thought he heard distant
voices calling, and fancied some foe had crept
up to the other side of the stone and was steal
round on him-then it seemed as if he was
lying ON English sand and the sea was foam
ing round Plymouth breakwater hard by
then he raised his hat for the fortieth time to
think for the fortieth time of this great Thirst
Land, before his lightheadedness began once
more, together with the burning ache for
water in every fesh-atom.
The shadow heightened, the sand in it cooled,
the relief was grateful, though small Later
on the sun went down, red globe in pur-
pie haze; the stars appeared, and he followed
one for a long time till he got among
rocks and bruised his body against them in
the dark. 1t was of no use going ON till
moon-rise; he lay there on the stony floor,
and his thirst kept him from feeling the hard
ness of it-for awhile.
AT last he could bear it no longer, but rose
and ran on then presently struck against one
fallen before out in the sand tracks Still the
man was not beaten. When he had recovered
he wiped his heavy eyes with the back of
his hands and felt his way along through that
rocky maze, tapping his sword on each side
and following the passages, holding on to his
star with the bulldog instinct of his race. At
last the moon came out and lit the plain,
showing it mounting up and up in a long slow
slope till the eye lost it in darkness, but
covered SO far with stones, stones, stones, like
the graveyard of the whole human race. So
he went on, rattling his tongue about in his
arid mouth, wondering why he did not lie
down and die at once, why he did not at once
fall on his blade and end his portion of life,
yet persevering all the time, no unworthy
man of his countryside and yeonlan name
He had no visions now, in the night; they
were reserved for the treacherous day, when
the guiding star should be hidden.
So through the long hours he travelled, and
at last shuffied out into places where the
stones, that dreadful multitude all exactly
alike, stood in groups only. The moon sped
on her course, and the ground under foot sent
a ring from his steel staf-it was rock
Then the stones ceased altogether and
series of low ridges came; they taxed his
shaky legs and arms to their full low though
they were, 50 that he lay down to rest ON each
as he got upon it. Then he came to the long
ridge, highest of all this huge inclined land,
and saw its edge winding away to right, to left,
for miles in the hard moonlight, and the rock
floor sloping downward far below him, for
miles and miles more.
Looking behind, the sight of the fearful |
maze of wilderness he had wonderfully come |
through filled him with terror, and he fled |
away from it, down and on, only to fall again |
like a child. Then for awhile his tortured |
frame could carry him no more; there he lay, |
deliriously mumbling about streams and |
lakes and fountains, till the sun came and |
struck his bare head with it's hot rays Still I
be lay there, now awake and, strange to say,
not mad, though very weak, sorely suffering, |
and hardly able to think at ALL
Indeed, he did not think, but merely fol- |
lowed up his instinct when he crawled up on I
to his feet and staggered along swaying one |
way for many PAGES, then the other, hanging /
his hands and head, moaning In dry, broken
way, like cut bellows, yet still going on |
And then his dim eye received refreshing
coolness-a plant, growing green
at his feet
Down he sank upon it, seized it, chewed /
the dusty leaves; there were little driblets of
earth here and there. Another bit of green
caught his eye; he raised his heavy head and
saw that 100 PAGES away the plateau on which
he stood broke off sheer. He had crossed the
desert, for down there 1000 feet below, were
green plains, palms, and a river, and beyond
the blue Pacific.
The poor, wasted creature raised his bony,
cracked claws and gurgled with triumph
He had cheated the Spaniards and the Thirst
Lands; hurrah!
And there were more plants nearer the
edge; to them he fastened, with the blade
still dragging from his wrist, to fall prone on
a little group of them, and on a huge puff
adder lying almost invisible along an earth
grove. Instantly the beast drew back its
head and struck him on the bare leg, and
then fled.
A rage filed him; he seized the sword in
both shaking hands, brought it down on the
marked back, missed it, fell forward and the
steel bent and broke under him as the enemy
glided away. But after it he painted with the
of revenge; caught it up as it twisted
by large stone, pushed the stone over its
neck by an effort and, kneeling cut its
writhing body into long strips with the frag
ment of his blade. Then he got back some
how to the green tufts, and while the poison
worked it's way to his heart, sweetened his
last moments of life with those leaves, till
stupor came over him and he slept with his
destroyer the sleep of death on the border of
the Sweet Palm Coast, as the Indians called
IL,