Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1897-06-11

orchard land. The sun looked on them
with a friendly rotundity for AN hour,
and then he frowned, and the frown
was of white heat. And sleonily they
plodded on, searching for .uSh big
enough TO cast two square feet Of shade,
They had no means of tel, - time
other than by the sun, but the ~ knew
the secrets # the san and k, B.. il was
10 O'Clock when the pale, ca! ace 81
Hong tOy looked into hers W. =, :; dumb
piteouSness. and he sank III s,9oulL
Hurriedly the girl uncovered his head
and saw for the first time tl2 great,
/ Jagged, ragged hclc made 10y that bent
spike thrown ~ hCr father The mon
had dug deep, bur tie ChiuaI1.n nd
plast red tn wound with the cleaa
waste taken from the toulouse and haL
wrapped his cue around Il. Maggie re.
gar,!ed the hurt with litt!c bit 81 w.
manly horror, and thor She ia ucRt 81
! how her lover had walked al that pirh'
/ through tie sands with ms head wreck
/ cd by her father for and had not III
! timat,d thar h" was injured at all
He is y 9Th IT. " said Maggie Ana
tsnderiy SIC dreS "a the Wodrd va III
ing II VIII the precious }.u,cr Long Toy
had CARRIED ~ tho great bottle. lie is
worth IT,
1t Won would have 20 EUCes at the
sv1Nllcs, part Of that awful journey 60
on on tie Southern Pacific 10 the place
whore the temps nature Is normally AZ
40 in Jun, at II O'Clock in the day.
! time, where the air is SO hot that il
culS itself up. where the allali is baked
into pow der tnCr than the finest powder
known 10 medicine, and without the
slightest br, ath e air 20 agitate it Sits
and sCattcrs about over the face Of the
| earth, being drawn up by the sun just
as goa have heard Of water being drawn
up. 1t will Toe an unpleasant ride To
you, for y1u VIII leave your coat at
Ogden and your raiment along the right
II way with great persistence, until III
he middle OF the desert you w II be "a
disgrace and will belong in e same
epoch as Adam and Eve, but you Will
not think of Adam and Eve for they
lived where water was and grass and
trees and blossoms and it would male
you insane to think of those as you look
ed out ON the writhing blue lines Of
mountains millions of miles away
Mountains which YOU see here this mo.
ment and which are gone when you look
again And beating, beating, beating
with might that makes your head
thump is the great world consuming
sun.
Yes, if you would like to guess about
Maggie and Hong Foy-the crippled
Hong Foy-and their II days parching
famiShing agonizing journey until they
walked out of death and into a green
line of paradise which ran along clear
river, you must go there and do it for
yourself And at the end Of the jour
ney, if you ever get TO the end Of it,
perhaps you will fall fainting and
deathlike at the margin Of the stream
as Hong Foy did, or perhaps you Will
drop on your knees and pray as did
Maggie.
THE only thing in the cabin, . said
Graves, (which plainly was not made
out of the things hereabout is "A great
bottle, which is apparently for water, ]
Il don't" said the driver of the
water wagon. What want to know
is about that there humpy lookin camel
beast that tle boy met US on. Tell me
where that thing came from and I'll 60
home satisfied. -
They don't know themselves. " said
Ford. They only know he came III
here one day, and the woman says he
was sent by God TO help the Chinee
haul wood in winter time, but the Chi
naman insists that he was created out
of the alkali or something, from what j
gather in talking to him, as special
gift Of his joss. The boy says nothing.
: consider that beast the greatest object
lesson in the Cancellation Of religious
disputes that l ever struck, for while
holding these different views they don't
quarrel about him. The real explana
tion is probably that he is the offspring
Of some of those camels the United
States government bought over from
Africa several years ago for use in the
Arizona army posts, but which turned
out failure and were let loose 70 roam
whore they would.
Il suppose, said Graves, that You
will say in your report that the red
eaded. half Chinese kind is the natural
child Of the deserty'
Eyes If this land Of heat and hard
ship is ever TO be peopled, l think that
Will be the breed for itl'
Did il ever strike you, " said Graves
t. Ford. after they had got back to civ
ilization "how that Chinese friend Of
yours and his wife and child out there
in that desert are SO fond Of one anoth
er?''
Graves, said Ford, 1.-THE word
love always seemed to me 20 be sort
of a sickly one for Il grown man TO use
in talking to another, but do you know
that is what | would call that case? !
don't think I'd say fond. "
Il don't understand it at all, Graves
observed
well, you know there's no rule for