Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1895-06-11
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
PART TWO.
1.-THE Country Of The Sdints.l
By A. CONAN DOYLE.

fAhI IWU.
THE Country Of the Sdints.l
CHAPTER I.
In the central portion Of the great
North American continent there lies an
arid and repulsive desert, which for
many q long year served as a barrier
against the advance Of civilization.
From the Sierra Nevada to Nebraska
and from the Yellowstone river in the
north to the Colorado upon the south
is region of desolation and silence,
Nor is nature always in ono mood
throughout this grim district. 1t com.
prises snow capped and lofty mountains
and dark and gloomy valleys There are
swift flowing rivers which dash through
Jagged canyons, and there are enormous
plains which in winter are white with
snow and in summer are gray with the
saline alkali dust. They all preserve,
however, the common characteristics OF
barrenness. inhospitality and misery.
There are no inhabitants Of this land
Of despair. 4 band Of Pawnees or Of
Blackfeet may occasionally traverse it in
order to reach other hunting grounds.
but the hardest Of the braves are glad
to lose sight Of those awesome plains
and TO find themselves once more upon
their prairies. The coyote skulks among
the scrub. the buzzard flaps heavily
through the air. and the clumsy grizzly
bear lumbers through the dark ravines
and picks up such sustenance rs II can
among the rocks. These are the sole
dwellors in the wilderness.
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 fiat plain land, all busted over
with patches Of alkali and intersec,ed by
clumps Of the dwarfish chaparral bushes.
On the extreme verge Of the horizon lie
a long chain Of mountain peaks, with
their rugged SUBMITS fiecked with snow.
In this great stretch Of country there Is
no sign of life nor Of anything apper'
tanning 10 life. There is no bird in tho
steel blue heaven. no movement upon
tho dull. gray earth. Above all, there II
absolute silence. Listen "a one may,
there is no shadow of sound in all that
mighty Wilderness Nothing but silence
complete and heart subduing silence.
II has been said there is nothing ap-
pertaining TO life upon the broad plain.
That is hardly true. Looking down from
the Sierra Blanco one sees n pathway
traced out across the desert, which
winds away and is lost in the extreme
distance. It is rutted with wheels and
,rodden down by the feet Of many advon
turorS Here and there are scattered
white objects which glisten in the sun
and stand out against the dull deposit Of
alkah. Approach and examine then!
They are bones. Some large and coarse,
others smaller and moro delicate. The
former have belonged to oxen and the
latter to men. For !, 500 miles one may
trace this ghastly caravan route by the
scattered remains Of those who had fallen
by the wayside.
Looking down on this very scene.
there stood upon the 4th Of May, lS+7.
a solitary traveller. His appearance was
such that he might have been the very
genius or demon of the region. An OBJ
server would have found it difficult to
say whether he was nearer TO 40 or 60.
His face was lean and haggard, and the
brown, parchmentlike skin was drawn
tightly over the projecting bones; his
long, brown hair and beard were oil
flecked and dashed with white; his eyes
Were sunken in his head and burned
with All unnatural luster, while the
hand which grasped his rifle was hardly
more feshy than that Of u skeleton. AS
he stood, he leaned upon his weapon for
support, and yet his tall figure and the
massive framework Of his bones suggest
ed wiry and vigorous constitution. His
gaunt face, however, and his clothes,
which hung SO baggily over his shriv-
eled limbs, proclaimed what ii was that
gave him that senile and decrepit ap-
pearance. The man was dying-dying
from hunger 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 stretch
ed before his eyes. and the distant belt
Of savage mountains, without sign
anywhere Of plant or tree. which might
indicate the presence of moisture. In all
that broad landscape there as no gleam
Of hope North and east and west he
looked with wild, questioning eyes, and
then he realized that his wanderiDgs
bad come TO an end, and that there, on
that barren crag, he was about TO die.
why not here as well as in feather
bed 90 years hence?" he muttered Us
he seated himself in the shelter Of a
bowlder.
Before sitting down he had deposited
upon the ground his useless rife. and
also a large bundle tied up in a gray
shawl, which he had carried slung over
his right shoulder. 1t appeared to be
somewhat too heavy for his strength,
for, in lowering it, it came down on the
ground with some little violence. In
stantly there broke from the gray parcel