The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1900-04-12

inc lE.lrQ anu lOuttH ScuS!d"iOu, wa
gathered around his table on Thanks
g viag day. s., under the burning
sun, whose only shadow was cast by
tie locks O. carrion lirts that circlei
above the remnant of the outfit, they
stood over the grave OF their deal
com anion, waiting for like fate, or
ceath by tLei own hands, 10 be to Il
by coyotes perhaps before the brea h
was out Of their bodies, the six sannt
men with bowed, uncovered heads,
VII le "Fast-Side" pronounced IN SOL
emn tones:
sob, Lord, for what We ave about
to re We make Us devoutly thank nj.
Amen"
A prayer was a prayer to ''Fast-
Side" Anything that began with
81 od'' in reverent terms and ended
with "aren" was prayer. His
.andfathe had been godly man, and
he had said it, therefore it was appro-
PIRATE on this occasion. Tho effect
was the same upon the others, for tho
words sMacked OF the phraseo'ogv ri
the wandering e1horters they had
heard.
After the raising Of the Missouriaa
there was even less to do; the men
were mo taciturn w'th each other,
but the was noticeably less profanity
among then, possibly beranse they
harbored their strength more jealous
~ and the exertion was unnecessary,
or because their mouths were too dry
to articulate MANY words. 1t was now
six weeks since they had set ont across
the "sink," expecting to get the cattle
| off their hands and have little time
in the city before starting back to the
camp, but the wild-eve1, sorry looking
things seemed imp omising enough
now even for a glue factory
AS "East-Side" lay on the ground
looking up through the holes in his
hat-they stood upright and walked
no moe than was absol 1tely nee 'sary,
+ that re :uired al expenditure OF
strength-lazily wat ching the Aocks OF
birds that swooped and poised in the
air above him, -~he- discovered. or
|, thought he did, that thev cast shadow
against the sky-a tiny gray shadow
! that he watched for the utter lack OF
anything else to watch. When tho
birds few lower, the shadow seemed
Ito grow larger. but when finally they
| ew away there was still the shadow,
larger and darker. Y ith a wild whoop
he sprang to his feet. forgetting the
value of harborine his strength as he
grasped the import of that shadow. {
was a cloud! Every man sprang un
at that tiny speck and went to wo K
with white face AMI uns e1dy han Is.
The speck grew larger, and the men
tworke harder; eve Y hole o; t.a::qsa
: 4 Ia: s,e basin feared fc
action 80 tlysr not ore precious droi
might be lost. Their wo~ds were few
but kindly as they scra ell away, Will
one eye on the e ouud aud the othe'
. on the cloud slowly hut unmistakaol,
growing larger and coming their way
Du ing the night those suns .orche
dreamers dreamed Of moist winds, ant
rain clouds TO egathering over the
moon, then OF raindrops patterinf
gently until they made @ soaking
! downpour. But they had oftel
dreamed that-dreamed it when then
parcEed tongues hung out OF thel
mouths and Graz ked for dryness. b.
this time ther hal & own wary; ever
in their sleep they were On t!eir guart
and not to he begulle into believ'n :
When at last in the early ,norninc
the rain dill come, with the first pat
te"ing drops every man forgot every
thing in the world but the all-consum
49, as ion TO slake his burning
thirst; until their hats had cauSh
e..su to drai l, they suckei thel
shirt sleeves. Then, because his OWL
! nee,l for that last charge was no longe
imperative, the outfit boss drew beae
on the Ii. eliest animal in tha herd, ant
they feasted roya ly, joycusly, uproar
iously on steak I'd waite. And IN tn
eAuberance If t :eir g'ee no one no
ticed that for convenience they ba.
chosen the mound that covered tht
| Missourian for their ia lie.
After the feast every man lay dow1
in,h S trench, which was now file
with water, aud aked, soake throu.l
to the ma row, rousinr himself onl,
to drain his hat, then falling back AM
soaking more. AMI when, a.tar 2
hours OF so king they got up out o
their trenches, each water-logged ma
was firm believer in the e.tracY O.
prayer. San Francisco ArSonaut.