The Olneyville tribune. (Providence, R.I.) 1893-189?, 1894-08-11

! was so friShtiully oppressive that the
passengers voted unanimously to sit
mp all night rather than try to rest in
our berths
'"rhere was one consolation for me,
however. Mrs. Mason and her daugh-
ter, Marie, we're aboard the train and
during the last few days 1 had dis
covered that / could be happy any
where if Marie was there, too.
There was fair supply Of ice on
the train, and the cook and the porters
were kept busy all through the night
making ice-cream, which We devoured
as soon as it was made. The job was
tough one, but the porters couldn't
resist the bribe fund which We raised
for the sake of ice-cream.
''in the dry season the desert is the
driest spot on earth, but the rainy
season had just begun, and the humid
ity was something that New York peo-
pie can't even imagine. We got
through the night somehow, though
many of the people didn't doze, even
for an instant.
''Rut the day that followed WAS
worse than the night. The sun blazed
down on that parched desert, and its
rays and heat were reflected back at
us. 1t was impossible to keep the
windows shut, and the result was that
our eyes, nostrils, mouths and throats
were filled with that indescribably
horrible alkali dust. Now and then
through the day it rained, but the al
kali soil of the desert instantly soak-
ed up all the rain that fell, and the
effect of the showers was to make the
humidity like that of the steam room
in Turkish bath.
"I am no kicker, and / am willing
to endure good deal for the sake of
travel. 1t wrung my heart, though to
NlIuesS luc ltTIlDle tOTluIe tHht
Marie suffered. famed her, but the
breeze stirred up by the fan was so
scorching that she begged me to stop.
'Just about sunset, when we were
about thirty miles out from Salton,
the train came to a stop in the middle
of the desert, for the engine, despite
the slow speed it had made, was suf-
fering from hot box
THAT meant an hours delay, the
conductor said, SO r proposed to Marie
that we leave the unbearable train and
take q short, slow walk. The idea ap-
pealed to Marie, for she was tired of
the car and felt sure that the desert
couldn't be any worse.
probably there wasn't much relief
in that walk, but we thought there
was. We talked a great deal, and in
spite of our sufferings from the awful
heat and intense humidity was be-
ginning to grow sentimental. believe
that L was actually on the point Of
proposing, when toot from the en-
gine's whistle, followed instantly by
shrek from Marie, brought me to
my senses.
"The train, some distance away, was
beginning to move. 1t was out Of the
question to run after it, so we simply
stood there, shouting and waving fran
tic signals. But no one saw or heard
us.
"In desperation drew my revolver
and rapidly emptied its chambers in
the air. The train was now too far
away for the reports to be heard over
tSe noise of the revolving, rattling
wheels.
''By the time that we stopped our
noise and signals, the train was a
mile of, and going at thirty miles an
hour
II gazed into Marie's face, and saw
there an expression that strongly re-
sembled utter despair. She was a
plucky girl, but the situation was too
terrifying. Salton was thirty miles
away, and between US and that little
desert station there was not house
of any kind. To walk that distance
over the treacherous alkali soil. and
through such n hot and humid atmos-
phere, was a task from which men
used to the desert would have shrunk.
What shall we do?' Marie gasped.
/" Il don't want to alarm you, / re-
piled, but we have a choice between
only two courses. One is to walk on
to Salton; the other is TO calmly lie
down and die. Wen walk, won't we?'
4" But surely, she insisted, 'as soon