Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1894-05-17
CONTINUED.

sustenanse as it can among the rocks.
These are the sole jewellers in the viii
derness.
In the whole world there can be no
more dreary view than that from the
northern slope of the Sierra Blanco.
As far as the eye can reach stretches
the great fat ~plain1and, all busted over
with patches Of ai6ali, and in~tersected
by c1umps of the dwarish chaParral
bushes. On the extreme verge of the
horizon lies a long chain~of mountain
peaks, with their rugged SUBMITS
flecked with snow. In this great
stretch of country there is no sign of
life, o of anything appertaining to
life. There is no bird in the steel-blue
heaven, no movement upon h dull,
gray earth-above all, there is abso-
lutte silence. Listen as one may, there
is no shadow of a sound in all that
mighty Wilderness; nothing but silence
complete and Notwithstanding silence.
It has been said there is nothing APP
pertaining to life upon the broad
plain. That is hardly true, Looking
down from the Sierra BlancO, one sees
a pathway traced out acros the desert
which winds away and is lost in the
extreme distance. It is rutted with
wheels and trodden down by the feet
Of many adventurers Here and there
are scattered white objects which
glisten in the sun, and stand out
against the dull deposit of allzali. APP
proach and examine them! They are
bones; some large and coarse, others
smaller and more delicate. The for
mer have belonged to oxen, and the
latter to men. For fifteen hundred
miles one may trace this CHASTITY cara
van route by these scattered remains
of those who had fallen by the way
side.
Looking down on this very scene,
there stood upon the 4th Of May, 1917,
a solitary traveller. His appearance
was such that he might have been the
very genius or demon of the region.
An observer would have found it diff
cult to say whether he was nearer to
forty or to sixty. His face was lean
and haggard, and the brown, parch-
ment-like skin wa drawn tightly over
the projecting bones; his long, brown
hair and beard were all decked and
dashed with white; his eyes were
sunken in his head, and burned with
an unnatural luster, while the hand
which grasped his rifle was hardly
HUG LGo4N 1iCs21 N-ALG vi IL S1AC4CCO4i-
AS he stood, he leaned upon his weapon
for support, and yet his tall figure and
the massive framework of his bones
suggested q wiry and vigorous consti-
tuition. His gaunt face, however, and
his clothes, which hung so baggily over
his shriveled limbs, proclaimed what
it was that rave him that senile and
decrepit appearance. The man was
Ivfrr-1-in1 from l4--1ra- and from
thirst.
He had toiled painfully down the
ravine and on to this little elevation,
in the vain hope of seeing some signs
of water. Now the great salt plain
stretched before his eyes, and the dis
tant belt of savage mountains, without
assign anywhere of plant or tree, which
might indicate the presence Of moist
IRE. In all that broad landscape
there was no CLEAN Of hope. North
and east and west he looked with wild
questioning eyes, and hen he realized
that his wanderings had come to an
end, and that there, on that barren
crag, he was about to die. "Why not
here, as well as in Il feather bed, twenty
years hence" he muttered, as he seated
himself in the shelter OF a bovvlder.
Before sitting down, he had de
posted upon the ground his useless
rifle, and also a large bundle tied up
in a gray shawl, which he had carried
s1ung over his right shoulder. 1t ap-
peared to be somewhat too heavy for
| his strength, for, in lowering it, it
came down on the ground with some
little violence. Instantly there broke
from the gray parcel a little moaning
cry, and from it there protruded a
small, scared face. with very bright
brown eyes, and two little speckled
dimpled fists.
you've hurt mel" said a childish
voice, reproachfully.
"Have I thought" the man answered,
p~enitently; 81 didn't go for to do it.
AS he spoke he ~unwrapped the gray
shawl and extricated pretty little girl
of about five years Of age, whose
dainty shoes and smart pink frock.
with its little linen apron, all bespoke
a mothers care. The child was pale
and wan, but her healthy arms and
legs showed that she had suffered less
than her companion.
GLOW is it now?" he answered, anx
ious1y, for she was still rubbing the
towsy golden curls which covered the
back of her head.
kiss it and make it WELL" she said
with perfect gravity, showing the in
jured part up to him. s"Thats what
mother used to do. Where's mother?'
'FMother's gone. 1 guess youth see
her before long"
"Gone, eh!" said the little girl
Sunny, she didn't say good-by; she
most always did if she was just goin
over to auntie's for tea, and nov she.
been away for three days. Say, it,
awful dry, amt it? Amt there III
water nor nothing to eat?"
NO, there amt nothing, dearie
You'll just need to be patient awhile
and then you'll be all right. Put you
head up agin me like that, and the1
you'll feel better. It amt easy to tall
when your lips is like leather, but
guess, I'd best let you know how tn
cards lie. What's that you've got?''
sPretty. things! fine things!'' criet
the little girl enthusiastically, holding
up two glittering fragments Of mica
when we goes back to home III giv'
them to Brother Bob"
you'll see prettier things than then
soon," said the man, confidently. "Yo7
just wait a bit. I was going to tel
you, though-you remember when w
left the river?"
"Oh, yes"
"We1l, we reckoned we'd strike an
other river soon, dye see? But ther
was somethin' wrong; compasses, o
map, or somethin', and it didn't turf
up. Water ran out. Just except a Iii
tie drop for the likes of you and
, and
. "And you couldn't wash yourself" ir
terrupted his companion gravely, stal
ing up at his grimy visage.
"No, nor drink. And ITr. Bender, h