Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-11-16
THE LAND OF DEsoLArloN.
How the Sergeant and His Party Lost Th
 Way.

Way.
 Standing on tho wall of the fort and looking to the west, the eye saw nothing but sterile plain. broken into ridges like waves of sea. Hero and there was bush, seemingly dead for years; here and therc half an acre of ground so sandy and in hospitable that even the sagcbush refused to take root. Ten miles away the horizon shut down on the lonely view, but we knew what was beyond. That waterlcss, trecless, forbidding plain stretched to the west for a hundred miles. It was a land of desolation, given up to hasking reptiles and grinning skulls. The Indian never approached from that direction; the hunt CT never rode that way in search of game; the soldier sentinel came off his beat at midnight and spoke in whispers of the strange noises he had heard blowing into his ears on the wings of the west wind. At midnight, alarmed no doubt by skulk- ing Indians or prOwling wolves, tho mules belonging to frcightCr's dozen big wag- ons stampede and rush straight away into the Land of DcsolatiOn. X sergeant is reused up. seven or eight men detailed to go with him, and away they ridc in hopes to head off the herd and turn 1t back. The men arc not moro than half awake, and they rub their eyes and muttCr curses as they ride. They uCk not of dircction as | they follow on the h, CiS of tho panic strick-
 
 whose feet have bccumc cntangled in his | lariat
 It is only after n dozen miles have been covered and tho herd shows no signs of | stacking up and the troopers cannot head | them off that any one realizes tine dircc- l tiun the pursuit has taken. Then the men ride nearer to each other and begin tu look to the right and left in such n nervous, | timid way that the grim old sergeant 1 ,I,. | for towards.
 | Over one ridge after another, across patches of sand, across acres of ground | whcrc tho surface seemed to be solid rock, | and yet the frightened herd led the way.
 By and by the scrGcant's horse gut a fall, | and tho troopers halted to offer assistance.
 Ten minutes were lost, and when they rode on again not even the hOof beats of tho mules could be heard. From that
 hour to daylight the men rode to the | right, to the left, hunted in vain for the
 lost herd. When dawn came, they halted
 and grouped together and stood up in
 their stirrups to look around them. Look | which way they would there was but one
 vicw--thc muuotunOus, inhuspitablc plain.
 Therc was no fort. no familiar landmarks
 to guide them. They were lost on the
 great plain. On leaving the fort they had
 headed to the west, but in the darkness
 the course might have been changed to any
 point of the compass. The thirsty horses
 pawCd the earth to tell their want, and
 the riders found their lips dry as they put
 their backs tO the rising sun and IoukCd
 into the west.
 We must follow our trail hack to the
 fort" said the sergeant aS he got down
 to lead his horse and the way.
 The troopers began tu laugh and talk.
 They were not lost. as they feared. Moth
 ing easier than to follow the hnof prints back To the fort. At the end u( half d mile the sergeant halted. Hero was n strip oi
 earth sO hard and rocky that only an In
 dian could have picked up trail. They hunted to the right and the left, but could
 ind nothing. They rude to the north, tC
 the south, to the west They walk :d witl heads bent down. They crawlcd on hand,
 and knees tu pick up tho lost tail S' they searched through all that long, hO ) Gny, riding q score of miles, but finding no sign. When the sun went down, the!
 unsaddlCd their tired and suffering horse
 and turned them luOsc and sat down to
 look at each other. For long time n'
 one spoke. Then the sergeant said:
 We arc lost. In three days shal all bc dead of hunger and thirst. Tonigh we may sleep. T"morrow night thirst wil 2 keep us awake
 ? No one answered him. He had advise, ? ] sleep. They had no blankets, needed none I, One by one they stretched out on the hO T earth, some on their faces and some O
 their hacks and by and by sleep came [ all. Thcp' was neither forage nor watC for tho horses. The hrutC~ Stoud for al . hour with heads hanging low and thCl
 lay down with sighs and grOans, and th c Land ut DCsOlatiun was given up tO tn 0 phantums and SpcctCrS and rptilcs. . There came another morning, anUthc r day of search and suffering. another lyin ., down as darkness fell. Alter that nn ma
 could tell. One day We who wcrc ridin
 from the fort in search came HcrusS tn y sergeant. At first We believed him dead Il but by and by We found q spark of If n and drew him back irym tho grave Lon
 weeks after he told us all hc had tn tel :. and then died. We found the bones uf th s horses hCrC and then sa ickcd clean uf ilCs " by wolf and huzzard. We found the skcl, f tons of thrCc Of the riders lying white an , ghnstly looking on the sun baked Cartt As to the others, death came ;u them q t well. but their bones wcr,' left undisCOVCl l. cd to bleach and turn gray and Crumbl Il away on that acCur~Cd plain. At midnigi Q tho sCntinClS relieved uu the west Wa ?. came in to u~ and whispered uf gallupin | horses, of words Of command, of huma . voices crying out through parchcd lip
 No one sCutIcd or rdiCulCd The fresh sct o tinCl looked out into tho west and whi c perCd to himself:
 !, Aye, l hear them too. It is tho sc U geant and his mCn-SpCctcr riders an a- phantom horses, seeking tO CScHpc frOi d the Land of DCSOlatiun!' M. QUAD