The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-04-12

Deing called Out Nenemenuly Tor a mouth
ful of water as the sole hope of life. Moth
ing else could save me.
Eagerly pushing the dented sides of the
skin apart, looked in. The dazzled eyes
saw only vacant blackness. Merciful
heaven, it could not be that the skin was
empty. / peere4 deeper and deeper My
vision must be at fault. for if L did not see
water / certainly smelled it. Thrusting in
my hand brought out handful OF mud,
the refuse of some well trampled into foul
ness by struggling, perishing men and
beasts The skin dropped from my nerve
less fingers, and the oozy sediment came
dribbling out. Before l knew what / was
about / was sucking it for dear life, but it
stank so poisonously that had TO spit it
out Immediately. Yet moisture of any sort
was too precious TO be wasted, so emptied
the trickling mire upon my baking wound,
rubbing it i'm with my finger as n smearer
rubs his tar into the divided fleece of a
sheep.
cannot say that the application in the
least assuaged the pain. And the disap-
pointment offlnding the skin empty gave
an added poignancy TO the throbbing of my
iniamed throat and lips. Ohl for single
drop, just one drop of clear. cool water TO
ease that fiery torture. Worlds upon worlds
would have given for so much liquid as
lies on the petal of daisy at dawn, and
worlds upon worlds could not have pur-
chased it there
i bandaged the wound-that is to say, I
bound it roughly with rag torn from my
long Arab shirt. But what mattered it
whether it was attended TO or notS Why
defer paying a debt that is exacted of all
men2 Wouldit not be best TO let death
distrain ar once.aud have done with "this
fever called living?' Utterly worn ouo
with fatigue and fright and excitement, |
was tired of being the sport Of destiny. To
think Of triumphing over her was a FOOLS
thought. No man had done il. No man
would or could do it. Why should 1 pro
long bootless strife2 The cry of the sick
heart was the cry of the ancient Celt: "How
evil was the lot allotted to Llywarch the
night when 10 was brought forthl Sor-
rows without end and no uess.verance from
his burden"
No deliverance from his burden That
was the sentence of old; il was the sentence
still. a CALLING struggle tragically relieved
by momentary illusions OF hope and happi-
ness, endless humiliations, crushing defeat
and at last inevitable death. Yet il was
hard to die hard to think calmly of ones
own bones being picked by those vultures
which were already lowering above me in
anticipation of a corpse to feed on. was
not yet philosopher enough for that
Crouchng on the sand, my head sank
deep between my knees in an agony of
despair. The sun beat down as if the heav-
ems were vault of fire, and millions of
quivering arrows seemed 60 dart along my
spine. 10 was rapidly driving me crazy.
was going mad with the consciousness Of
the calamity full upon me. Mercful God,
! was to die a raving maniac in the burn
ing wildernessl The thought thrilled for
an instant i'm the brain, making me shiver
as with sudden chill, and then came a
strange calm. That at least could be pre-
vented. Drawing my sword, I felt its edge,
thinking Of Saul and his armor bearer.
The blade was of Damascus steel and as
keen as a razo-. A moments courage and
ell would be over; 50 sharp an instrument
could cause little pain, nothing 90 what L
was already%uhering.
learned then that a man may take his
own lite smiling. I turned the edge in
ward toward the throat, glad that had
found such easy means of escape. A mo-
ments courage, ] kept saying 20 myself
no more; then everlasting relief The EDGE
touched the bare skim aud lcaped 60 my
feet screaming with unuttCrble horror
No, no, 4 could not do that; the canon of
the Almighty was clean against self
slaughter Shaking like u leaf In the gale
i fell PROSTATE Ou my face and prayed Tor
strength and pardon.