Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-04-15
FROM. DESERT TO RIVER.
A Sight That Was Enough to Unnervs
 the StoUtsSt Heart

A SiEhI That " Enough To InnerNe |
 the StOutest Heart. Half an hour before sunSCt we arrived at tho junction of the San Felix with the Pocos river and mado camp in grove or the east bank, with tho grCat desert Of sand on our right. Between Us and the sands was a narrow strip of soil or which tho grass sought to flourish. but only lived to parch and CraoklC and mako n drcary fringe to tho inhospitahlo dcscrt. To the north, south and west was vegctation- food. life; tO the cast, tho blanknCss of despair and death. No man smiled or tested Hs he looked out upon the dcscrt and tho wagon drivers whispered their strange tales around tho campnrcs
 "We should not hav0 campCd hCrc, " they said to tho soldiers. It was from this point that 70 mon on horseback sot out tO cross the sands ten years ago, and to this day neither man nor hOrsC has returned nor bcon heard uf. All purishcd out thcrc of heat and thirst, and the shifting sands havo ever since been toying with their bones. Tonight you will hyar strange cries from the d,scrt and hc madc afraid Tho cries will b, tho voices. of the dead soldiers as they como to quvnSn their thirst at tho river
 So tho drivers whispered, and but few of tho soldiers lauGh,sl nt thvIn. In apy other Camp-in any spot from which tho desert could uut have INvn si .h:cl and its influence fClt-thvr, would havC heon smilo and joke and Curss' at til, superstition of tho half hr,N,Ls whn cr,'SS,'I themselves as they talked. Mhyn night fell, tho srn- tinCls w,rC st!tiUuCd. Two uf them had thoir stations Ia tho cast on the very CLgo of the desert. They wvro men of years and of long service. and they wrrc among the few who had laughed in contempt at the whispered stOrivS- In m hour after tho SCntinCls wont out the camp was asleep. So 1t Is with soldiers making long marches. If any ono Is wakcful, ho must make companions of his thoughts and not disturb others. It was not yet To o'clock. and most of the horses wCr,' still on their feet and grazing at the rich grass on the rivers hank, when thCro came n cry which aroused half tho camp. It was not n loud | cry-ncithcr sO loud nor harsh as tho howl | of n cOyOtC-hut the night was sO wonder fully quiet thHt the sound penetrated the ears of all but the heaviest slc~,pcrs- IL camo of the desert through the gloom and darkness and was eChoing and quavrring | when some of tho slVCpcrs rVachCd their | feet.
 Corporal of tho Guard-pust No. I, ] post No. 2, post Nos. 3, I, 3 and 6!'' ! I4S OAlc elllel W alA uulltENSN tilt SlN camp sentincIs. It did morn. Tho two men at tho CdgC of the dcSCrt deserted their posts and wrrc coming into camp when met by tho corporal and driven hack | with oaths anu words of ridiculC- In five | minutes every one of tho SO mcn was 1 aroused. The mnjur turned out tO ask tho | causC of tho alarm, and no man could tell him that 1t was anything moro than a cry-a long drawn, quavCrinG cry which came floating in on the wings of night from the GPat graveyard tO the east. | "Focisl Cowar,ls! ChiIdrcn!' hc shout cd as ho ravCd through camp with drawn sword. Tho cry of n skulking wolf has struck terror to the hearts of a whole troOpl Back tO your pOsts-hack tO your blankets! 4 nicc rVcord this for the morn ing repOrt!'
 No one slept. Every man felt that thCr' | was something morc tO come 50 thrr" was, and 1t was nut long delayed. Tho | camp had scarcely grown quiet when thcre came a sCcund cry. It was. note for note, a repetition of the first. Every man in that camp, tho major included. was | awake and heard it, and in ten stN,undS cv cry man was upright. Five or six men, lCd by the major. ran thruugh camp tO tho srntincls on the C,lgr of tn" dcSrrt- But for this they would have loIt,d again. Within fivo minutes the entire fOrco in camp stood at the edge uf the sands look ing off into the darkness.
 It Is n wolf ar panther" said the ma jor as W" li~t"nTd- some of you t''t down on your kn,V'S and try tn make him out.
 \ minute la>~,vl. during which every man ssvmvd tu hold his hrvIth, Then one of them l,:I>i" q n< il struck by bullet and pointed |" tho north What "n" saw all slw Th"u' Wa Un m.r,n. au'l the | F1 1,-r aTusl then could wr catch thu El''Im nf n star. Just IS,low the camp then aprrarcd n har of light lv:IIiug from the strCam to the dcSrrt. IL MAS nut n l;larc, but n suEduCj light. nS is ii!ttring down through the darkness. In the midst of that light, a: if it lighted q trail. was a procession Nc one could say he made out horse or man clearly, but for ten long minutes every eye w-Ss fastened there, and every man be lieved that a long column of skeleton fig ures rude down tn tho stream on skeleton horses. We made out the first, and we made out the last. and it was a long min ute after the last died away before the light faded, and all was blackneSs in that direction.
 It is tho dead soldiers riding in of the desert to quench their thirst, ' said one Oi the half brcCds.
 "Puoh! Nonsense" GrOwlcd the major in rcply. Captain Taylor, have the posts doubled and order tho sentinels to fire Ou anything approaching from the east with out challenge"
 We returned to camp and rcplenished the fires and sat around them and talked in whispers till daylight came. If the off cers slept, We knew not. but they had nc orders for us. The scntinels might have been put under arrcst for leaving their I fb,,y Whom day came and ,amp was broken, wc looked for the | major 70 cuTss Us again, but he had nc word. Ho has: sCrn what We had Scen, and ho dared not again call Us towards and children. M. QUA
 As Far as He Had Got.