The Press., 1895-03-07


 That is hardly true. Looking down from the Sierra Blanco one sees a pathway traced out across 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 adven- turers Here and there are scattered white objects which glisten in the sun and stand out against the dull deposit of alkali. Approach .,and examine theml They are bones. Some large and coarse, others smaller and more delicate. The former have belonged to oxen and the latter to men. For l, 500 miles one may trace this gbastly 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, 1S47, solitary traveller. His appearance was such that he might have been the very genius or demon of the region. An ob- 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, parchmentIIk skin was drawn tightly over the projecting bones; his long, brown hair and beard were ali f1ecked and dashed with white; his eyes were sunken in bis head and burned with an unnatural luster, while the hand which grasped his rife was hardly more deshy than that of asskeleton 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 it 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 2 sign anywhere of plant or tree, which might indicate the presence of moisture. In all that broad landscape there was no gleam of hope. North and east and west he looked with wild, questioning eyes, and then 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 feather bed 9 years henee?" he muttered as he seated himself ill the shelter of a powder.
 Before sitting down he had deposited upon the ground his useless rife, and also large bundle tied up in a gray shawl, which he had carried slunR over his right shoulder. It appeared to be somewhat too heavy for his strength, for, in lowering 1t, it came down on the ground with some little violence. In- stantly there broke from the gray parcel 8 little meaning cry, and from it there protruded a small, scared face, with very bright brown eyes, and two speckled dimpled fists.
 You've hurt mev' said a childish voice reproachfully.
 ''Have l, though?" the man answer ed penitently II didn't go for to do it. " AS he spoke he unwrapped the gray shawl and extricated pretty little girl of about 5 years of age, whose dainty shoes and smart pink frock, with its lit- tie linen apron. all bespoke mothers care. The child was pale aud wan, but her healthy arms and legs showed that she had suffered less than her compan- ion.
 How is it now?'' he answered anx- iously, for she was still rubbing the towsy golden ourls which covered the back of her head. -s>
 Kiss it and make it well, " she said, with perfect gravity, showing the in- jured part up to him. That's what mother used to do. Where's mother?"
 Mothers gone guess you'll see her before long
 "Gone, eh?' said the little girf 'fFunny she didn't Say goodby She most always did if she wsis just goin over to auntie's for tea, and now she 's been away for three days Say. it's aw- ful dry, ain't it! Ain't there DO water nor nothin to eat?'
 No, there ain't nothing, aearie You'll just need to be patient awhile. and then you be all right Put your hand up agin me like that, and then you'll feel better. It ain' easy to talk when your lips is like leather, but l guess I'd hest let you know how the cards lie. Whats that you've got?"
 Pretty thingsl Fine thingsp' cried the little girl enthusiastically, holding up two glittering fragments of mica. "When we goes back to home. I'll give them to Brother Bob. .
 .Yau'll see prettier things than them soon, ' said the man confidently. You just wait bit. was goin to tell you,