The herald., 1897-06-27

there, and had travelled nearly ten miles
on foot, with the empty canteen, over
the burning sands and up the barren
canyon, from the rocks in which the sur
blazes even more fiercely than from the
sands of the open. For the last mile the
marks Of his struggles with deliriunl
were plain upon the sand and gravel in
the bottom of the wash, before he finally
succumbed so near the water. Had he
taken a little gulch to the right a few
hundred yards below where he was
found, he would have reached water
but he either did not know of that stream
or must have mistaken the gulch.
Several miles back, his son, strong
young man Of about thirty, was found,
with his head under one Of those little
sickly bushes that at wide intervals
only make the desolation of the desert
more impressive. Some three miles
below him. on the slope toward the
mountain, Mr.. Fish, robust young
man from Pennsylvania, who had come
with them to examine a mine, was found
with his head under another bush. Some
two miles below him was the wagon in
the dry bed of the Laguna that is there
marked on the map, and that sometimes
contains little shallow water, but this
time was dry.
Here all the tracks showed trepidation
and haste. The harness had BEEN hast
lily slung off the mules, the saddle thrown
on the led mule, and things tossed right
and left on the ground in haste to get
away.
In about mile the mules were aband-
oned, the party not even stopping to take
the saddle off the one. In short time
Mr.. Fish had given out and laid down to
wait for the rest to bring the water.
Then Young Breedlove had found his
strength not equal to that of his father,
or perhaps they decided that as only the
father knew where the water was there
was mo use in the son exha usting him
self going along, for if the father did not
reach 1t they were all lost, anyhow. and
If he did he would then be able to bring
some back. And so the father went on
alone on the road to death, leaving the
others to do the most dreadful Of all
waiting. There were no marks of strug-
Cling with death. Slow delirium
doubtless eased Off the last hours, and
so far as the faces could be read they
Nearly all such cases of death or even
suffering are due wholly to careless
ness or over-confidence which in deal
ing with these fiery furnaces is the same
thing. Mr.. Breedlove knew the desert
quite well, knew where hewas going and
the shortest way to get there. But he
was evidently a little too certain OF
finding some water at the laguna
enough at all events to get along with
until he could get to the spring in the
mountain. In a country having such a
short and unreliable rainfall as these
deserts there are too many places where
water last year does not mean water this
year. The party should not have taken
these chances. 1t is very dangerous tc
leave one camping place short of water
expecting to find water at the next one
unless you know positively that there
is water there this year. The only safety
in such case is to turn right about and
go back to where you left the last water
And go back that night, for If you wait
until the heat of the next day you may
never reach it,. And unless you are sure
of having water enough ON hand to
make the return, II 1t should be neces-
sary, you should not take the start, but
give up the trip and start better pre-
pared.
But Mr.. Breedlove evidently reasoned
that If he should possibly fail to find
water at the Laguna that 1t was still
only ten or twelve miles farther to water
in the Cocopah range, and they could
make that a. easily az to return. So