Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-02-26

Of taking the name Of God r~everently.
Instfnctively they turned to "East Side"
IT'S your lead, East Side,'" they said.
And East Side" cropping blindly back
ward toward the memories of his youth,
tried to recall something of religious i'm
port. Slowly through his desiccated
brain percolated a line from a church
hymn, From Greeland's Icy Mountains,
but although the thought was pleasant
in this burning desert, the words were
not to the point-besides, that was all he
knew of it. He shook his head sorrow
fully. I'm the beginning" +he thought
he had struck the right lead therein
the beginning, God created"-
But again he was stuck and could go
no further.
Lead up, East Side!'" they urged.
Then the light broke. The backward
cropping had brought him down to the
days of his childhood, to the words his
grandfather had been wont to say ~
with bowed heads the family, to the
third and fourth generations, was gath
cred around his table on Thanksgiving
day. So, under the burning sun, whose
only shadow was cast by the focks OF
carrion birds hat circled above the rem1
nant of the outfit, they stood over the
grave of their dead companion, waiting
for a like fate, or death by their own
hands. to be torn by coyotes perhaps be-
fore the breath was out of their. bodies,
the six gaunt men with bowed, uncov-
cred heads, while "East Side pr0@
nounced in solemn tones: q
ooh, Lord, for what we are about to
receive. make is devoutly thankful.
Amen" ~ =, ~
A prayer was a prayer to "East Side"
Anything that began with LORD IN
reverent terms and ended. with amen
was a a y His grandfather had been
a cody man, and he had said it, there
H-.~- : ~,-- 49,. 4ls- ~.- -
The effect was the same upon the others.
for the words smacked of the phraseOlO-
gy Of the wandering exhorters they had
heard.
After the passing Of the Missourian
there was even less to do; the men were
more taciturn with each other, but there
was noticeably less profanity among
them, possibly because they harbored
their strength more jealously n the ex-
ertion was unnecessary, or because their
mouths were too dry to articulate many
words. t7
set out across the ''sink,' expecting to
get the cattle off their hands and have
a little thine" in the city before starting
back to the camp, but the wild-eyed,
sorry looking things seemed unpromising
enough now even for a glue factory.
AS East Side" lay on the ground look
ing up through the holes i'm his hat
they stood upright and walked no more
thar was absolutely necessary. for that
required an expenditure of strength
lazily watching the flocks of birds thai
swooped and poised in the air above him.
he discovered, or thought he did, that
they cast a shadow against the sky-a
tiny gray shadow that he watched for
the utter lack of anything else to watch
+ When the birds flew lower, the shadow
seemed to grow larger, but when finally
they flew away there was still the
2 shadow, larger and darker. q
With a wild whoop he sprang to his
feet, forgetting the value of harborine
his strength as he grasped the import oil
that shadow. 1t was a cloud! ii
8 Every man sprang up at that tin,
8 speck NC went to work with white fac
and unsteady hands. The speck grew
b larger and the men worked harder; ever!
hole or trough that led to the basin WA
: cleared for action, so that not one pre-
lou drop might be lost, SIS ia 80
q Their words were few but kindly a
), they craped away, with one eye on tn
ground and the other on the cloud slow
= ly but Enthusiastically growing larger ant
coming their way.
During the night those sun scorche,
!; dreamers dreamed of moist winds ant
rain clouds fore-gathering over tn
moon, then of rain drops pattering gentl.
: until they made a soaking downpou1
But they had often dreamed that
r. dreamed it when their parched tongue
= hung out of their mouths and cracket
n for dryness. BY this time they ha
d grown wary. Even in their sleep the
n We're on their guard and not to be be
guiled into believing.
o When at last in the early morning tn
1t rain did come. when the first PATTERN
IL drops every man forgot everything in tn
y world but the all-consuming passion t
% slake his burning thirst; until their hat
o, had caught enough to drain, they sucke
their shirt sleeves. Then, because hi
own need for that last charge was n
d longer imperative, the outfit boss drew
bead on the likeliest animal in the hero
/ and they Toasted royalty, joyously, ur
roariously on steak and water. And /
~ the exuberance of their glee no one nc
= ticed that for convenience they ha
W chosen the mound that covered the Mis-
>. sourian for their table.
~ After the feast every man lay down |
~ his trench, which was now filled wit
water, and soaked, soaked, through I
the marrow, rousing himself only
ii drain his hat, then falling back and soal
w ing more. And when, after twenty-for
hours of soaking, they got up out I
m their trenches, each water-logged ma
ne was a firm believer in the efficacy I
prayer.
ir "
IT ST. PAUL AND ST. LOFTS