Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1894-05-23


softly as if out Of pure pity and comrade'
ship.
BY and by there came change. The
flaming sky was overcast, the shimmering
sand turned gray, and after awhile dark
clouds began to gather in the south. Then
a tepid, relaxing wind blew from the same
quarter bringing an electric sultriness in
place Of the white heat. After little the
wind ceased and dead calm fell.
The atmosphere seemed to have suddenly
grown solid and to be weighing upon the
world like canopy of molten lead. Breath
ing had been difficulty before-it was @
positive pain low. My horse grew restive,
snorting, paving the ground and shifting at
the far darkness, now fast spreading and
deepening.
All ut once out of the deathly stiffness
came little blast of wind that tossed the
, sand spitefully in my face and passed on
with a weird, uncanny wall. Another and
another followed with low, hopeless moan
as of incurable sorrow, then silence again
so deep that to my beating senses it was
audible 1t was as if a great, invisible
host were treading the loose earth and fill
ing the air, an endless procession passing
on into the inane And let me tell you
that the awesome sound Of unshod silence
is thing to make the hair rise on the head
and the flesh creep on the bones. spoke
to my horse for the sake of company, and
my words were ghostly gibber Twas star
tied at the sound of my own voice.
The darkness was soon an inky blackness
The sullen heavens were descending, and
impenetrable clouds were marshaling in
forbidding ramparts along the skyline OF
the south. Then lambent fire began to
flicker about the outer edges of the dense
masses, and presently there was borne &c
my ears the long roll of incipient thunder
A few minutes later big drops of rain be-
gan to patter on the sand, sending up vol
umes Of dusty steam.
got to my feet with JOY unspeakable
Praise be to heaven, my cry for help had
been heard and answered! I was saved,
saved from the vultures and the heaping
sands. Man is an insignificant atom in the
scale of the universe, yet easily believes
himself the object of a special providence.
Here were the streams of water in the des-
ert sent for me and for me alone. 1wept
with awe and gratitude.
The rain came thicker and faster, first a
shower and then a deluge. The sun was
eclipsed, and the dome overhead seemed to
be cracking and rending as at the blast of
the last trump And indeed to me it was
little less than resurrection. Here was
water, and water was life. The thunder
roared ever nearer and louder till worlds Of
wrecked matter seemed to be crashing over
my head. My ears were stunned by the
exploding bolts, and on my face felt the
hot smack of the forked lightning that
made the wilderness as sea of fire. But
through it all the benefcent rain came
down in sheets. drenching me not merely,
to the skin but to the very marrow. With
upturped face and open mouth slaked my
baking throat, and as I drank, with ten
times the greediness of the fevered drunk
ard, could see my horse with his nozzle
turned to the pouring skies, as if he, too,
were having Il saving draft.
Far into the night the storm doomed and
poured. While it lasted l lay stretched
full length on the soaking sands, slowly
turning over and over so that the blessed
flood might enter at every pore. 1t was
impossible to have too much OF that heav-
ems gift, and l would not miss drop of it.
Nor, while reveling in the shower bath, did
forget to fill my water skin against future
needs.
Now and again had glimpses of crouch
Ing forms, with eyes that matched the
lightning, ready to pounce upon me, but
somehow they never came to the spring.
In the air, too, were wheeling things that
would swoop down and then dart Off with
cry of disappointment at finding the
expected corpse a living man.
In the early morning the storm died
away, and the stars came out in a crystal.
line, dewy azure that VIZ as the. cool blue
bosom Of summer lake. Not daring to
sleep, lay and looked up at them, meditat-
ing at the marvels they must have seen in
the course of the countless ages. But
though my thoughts were serious enough
(and with good reason) they had not the
gloom of the night before.
l had leisure to ponder many things be-
sides the stars-such as the strange fate
that had led me hither, the perils and hard
ships that were past, those that might still
be TO come, the fate Of my late companions
and my own present condition. But as you
may imagine the subject that was upper
most in my mind was the miraculous meet
ing with Donald Gordon, for l was con-
WINGED that the man on the black horse
was none other than he.
What in the name of all the wonders had
brought him to this strange quarter of the
globe and how came he to be fighting for
Yumen Yusel? These were questions /
could not answer; perhaps l did not try
very hard to answer them, for was oc-
cupied with the cardinal fact that beyond
all doubt Donald was in Arabia, that had
seen him face to face, had even spoken to
him and got hurried glance i'll reply. But
for the sudden mishaps of war l would
have declared myself to him, and he would
have become my friend and protector. In
the most unexpected way my mission came
near a happy accomplishment, yet, eXas-
perating to think, had failed as utterly as
if we had been as wide apart as the poles.
The total failure Oh the verge of SO dram
attic q success was another cruel stroke Of
that malicious fortune that pursued me so
relentlessly. But with spark of the fire
that had thought dead told myself that
I would not be conquered.
Donald Gordon was in Arabia, and |
would find him-nay, more, would carry
him triumphantly back to Scotland and
his friends AS this bold, high project
stirred me I had vision of two sun en-
Drowned men in strange, outlandish garb
arriving in the cleaning at The Elms, and
of Isabel, after moments mistrust, rush.
ing to greet and embrace them. The delec-
table imagination inspired me with such
heart and energy that must have expand
ed inches on the strength of it.
The morning broke sweetly over the
waste with rosy flush, and sapphire ra-
dance, and a balm that was as a precious
cordial to mind and body. The sand spar
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