The record-union., 1897-07-21

found me in the Rhine, ven / vas a leetle
papy, and l pelong to you. Take me
vid you, take me vid your But l can
not take her vid me, for l do not know
ware l shall go, and I half not much
money. So 1 tell dat girl | cannot take
her vid me, and she weep, and l tell her
to wait for me, and l come pack ven l
half made fortune, and she say she
viii always wait for me, and pray for
me, and if she vas die pefore 1 come
pack she vas watch over me. And ven
tream dat know she vas dead!'
You know she is dead? Why-how-
you said it was only a dream?"
Vas, yas, But it vas all true-it all
happen many years ago, ven l leaf Swift
zerland, only now / tream it all ofer
again. But Wait. 1 tream all dat, and
den tream dat a beautiful woman come
to me and say: Joseph, Joseph! You
sleep on the Knox bonanza 1t vas under
you And den wake, and dare it vas!
Sol Veil, vas half crazy. 1t vas in
very Wild place and the rocks vas high
and the pushes vas very thick. 1 preak
off dat one chunk and l run home. Ven
go pack the next day I cannot find dat
place. I look and look and look, and l
dig and l pray, but it haf gone. can't
find it no more. And / come to tell YOU
SO dat you can go vid me, because you
can see peter as me, because my eyes
iss very old.
If Joe had not brought that piece Of
quartz I could not have believed his
story. But the ore was too corrobora-
tive to be ignored. I said I would go
the next day. But did not go the next
day. That night I was sent for; rela-
tive who lived several miles away was
dangerously wounded by the accidental
discharge of his gun. 1 told Muller to
wait few days and rest, but he would
not
Il cannot rest" he said. 81 will go
pack, and ven you come you will find
me at Schmidt's ranch
Three weeks passed before I got
away, and when l had ridden less than
half the distance my horse went lame,
and l was compelled to leave him at a
ranch and continue my journey on
foot. That meant sixteen-mile walk
through a rough, unsettled region with
which I was not familiar. Late in the
afternoon l met man who told me
''the quickest and easiest way to
Schmidt's ranch was straight up the
mountain till you come to that blasted
pine, and then go straight down the
other side" He added that Couldn't
miss it,
proved that man liar. I not only
missed it, but missed it bad.
The sun went down behind a mass of
black clouds, the wind rose and
soughed dismally through the trees.
and the air became suddenly cold. I
found a trail, and followed it, hoping it
would lead me to a ranch, or at least TO
a place of shelter from the approaching
storm.
How many thousand twists and turns
and loops We're in that trail 1 do not
know. 1t went up the hill and down
the hill, and along the side of the
hill. Then it doubled on itself, and
went back, and crossed itself, and
wound itself into spirals and figure
eights and double bow knots. 1t struck
off boldly toward all the points of the
compass, and went over rocks and un-
der roots, and got frightened and
turned back; and writhed and twisted
itself UP into muddle, like a crippled
snake. Then it began to grow indis-
tinct and dwindled down to a squirrel
path. The squirrel path shrank into an
ant track, and the ant track went up
a tree.
1t was dark now; the wind was
moaning more dsmally than ever, and
it had started to rama cold, drizzling
sopping rain that clung to the bushes
and soaked through my clothes and
-,
on. I was not missing anything now
struck every stone with my feet;
banged my head against every low
hanging limb; I walked bodily into
every bush and tree that could be
walked into. l shouted, and from out
of the driZzling darkness the echoes
sent a drizzling, derisive reply.
At last, far away, | heard the rattle
of a COW bell. l went in search Of the
COW, because I imagined a COW must
of necessity be under shelter that mis-
cradle night; a shelter meant a she'd
and a shed meant habitation in
which a fagged-out, wet and hungry
man could rest
I found the COW. She was a dissolute
bedraggled, half-witted, utterly de-
PRAYED cow If she was not, why was
she standing all lalone in that disordered
country. letting the rain sop into her
back, and humping herself against the
fury of the elements? No respectable
virtuous, home-loving COW would have
done it. Only an idiotic, stubborn
cow given to gadding about at unseem-
ly hours would have been caught out
in that way. She let me approach un-
til l was quite near, staring at me with
her great soulless eyes, just as devil
fish might stare at a corpse in the bot
tom of the sea. Then she stuck her
head and tail up into the air, and
dashed away, changing her bell till the
tongue flew out of it. 1 thought I
would frighten her again, and she
would run to ranch, but she didn't
She ran at right angles with her first
course Then she ran back to her
original position, and stood staring at
me, as much as to say: What sort of
a man is this, who goes struggling
through these demon haunted woods in
the night, disturbing innocent cows
and making them afraid?'
1 had few matches. / found a rot
ten pine log, and made a fire. Then I
alternately froze and roasted the rest
of the night. In the morning the first
thing 1 saw was the lunatic cow She
was still staring at me-she had been
doing it all night. l had felt her ogre
ish gaze penetrating me like an X-ray
while l baked and froze. And there she
was-still at it! 1 seized a stone, hurled
it at her. and knocked one horn off.
Then l felt as though 1 had spoiled all
her chance of being reformed: had