The Republican., 1894-08-23
TANTALUS OF THE DESERT.

CIedSSS lne oullSTlIlS Oi lIlS L III sly
The Millard party, which left
Campo in April for a prospecting
trip on the desert OF Cocopah, and
who were afterward reported as
having perished, succeeded, after
terrible suffering and hardship, in
making their way to the Lost Horse
mine, in the Plnion district.
Charles f. Mrllard has arrived in
this city from the desert north of
lndIo. He was one of the party.
The other members of the party
were Nathan Millard, the father of
Charles; Diamond George"
Slmonds, and the West Indian,
Leon Eugene, Young Millard
told reporter graphic tale of his
experience in the desert:
"At Mesquite Lake we found the
deserted cabin of Johnson, the cat
tleman, who has cattle there in the
season. A light spring wagon was
standing there. We took it, leav-
ing our heavy wagon, with note
explaining the situation. We left
also our seine, fodder and large
quantity of food, The next day
we struck out for the railroad, 60
ing due north. We expected to
find water at short intervals and
took only half barrel with us.
"There it was that l first noted
the mysterious movement of the
sand hills and even mountains. We
would note large range of hills at
some point on the horizon aud
look the next day to see where it
was. Often it would be in an en-
tirely different direction. The
sand is continually shifting, often
so silently and lightly as to be un-
seen, but surely just the same.
This, | have no doubt, is one reason
why men get lost. Another is the
mirage, which is continually deceiv-
ing a person. In every direction,
whether on level or rolling ground,
we saw little cool lakes, fringed
with palms. Sometimes we saw
solid rock hills, with trees and lakes
at their feet. Invariably there was
nothing to cause this delusion, ex-
cept possibly the low bushes that
were seemingly magnitied by the
rays of heat and light.
cat noon on the day after we
left the lake our water was ex-
hausted. Then for q days we
went thirsty. l was surprised to
see that my father, an old man,
stood the torture better than 1.
Diamond George, too, seemed not
to suffer. The negro and l,
though, were greatly affected.
will describe as closely as l can how
l felt.
CATER the ordinary sensations of
thirst my tongue began to swell,
and the most intolerable feeling
came over me of pain wherever any
thing touched me. If my clothes
happened to rub me, | was seized
with an irresistible desire to throw
them off to the last stitch. My
father cautioned me to keep my
senses, and | argued with myself
continually, but nevertheless |
would find myself tearing my clothes
off. The most intense anguish, of
course accompanied the feelings of
physical discomfort. | dreamed of
water, thought of water, talked of
water, and always before me | saw
the cool little lakes just a few yards
off the road or just ahead. My
tongue swelled, filling my mouth
and feeling like a dry sponge. l
could not talk, but if [ could |
would have cursed those fresh little
lakes that Knocked me. The
thought of eating filled me with
sudden disgust and ugly temper.
In spite of that | tried to force my
self to eat something in order to
allay the suffering, but no sooner
had touched food with my dry
tongue than l flung it away invol-
UNFAIRLY. TO my tongue food was
as tasteless as sawdust.
"In the evening Of the third day,
when 1 felt myself going mad, with
objects taking the most grotesque
shapes and the noise of the wagon
sounding as il miles away, we saw
the smoke OF a passenger train rush
ing across the desert. Without a
word father and Diamond George
began plling food, barrel, traps and |
everything out into the sand. The |
sand was heavy, but they urged the
horses through, and we reached the
railroad at Flowing Wells. Never
shall l forget the first drink Of
water. | was sick for two days
out Of my head, they said.
cone Of the horses was sick, and |
we had to wait at Flowing Wells !
nine days. The train whizzed by, .
never stopping, and our grub began /
to give out. We had started from