The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1900-03-17
EAST SIDE 1HOMPSON'S
petition
A Story Of the Aikan
BYx-,,. Plains.
MARGUERITE
STABLER.

| AiihouEh hS AuluGlp nNpAG DChiIA
and went rougher than any man Of them
he had. never been able to live down bis
nickname of East Side" Thompson.
The Three X outfit Of cow punchers
had been on the trail more than month,
and according to all precedent and rea.
son, the rains should have set in weeks
before. but they had not. The grass that
had sprung up with the first early show.
ers had scared and died before the next
rain came to keep It alive. The shallow,
sluggish little streams Of bracksh water
that crawled along the bottom Of their
beds, which the year before had been
swollen beyond their banks. finally gave
out utterly. In every direction the white
alkali plains glistened' away to the meet.
Ing line Of the sky in m inhnitude of iso-
lation. The Oldest inhabitant in all the
country round could not recall winter
that equaled this in dryness.
Uowbeit, Nevada was then a new
state and the population migratory. Viii.
! son. the boss of the outfit, had hoped to
| get out Of the sagebrush country and
strike the California line somewhere
above Bodie by the end of the first
month out. but there was no rain, no
water. and the plains lay in open cracks.
Day after day the sun rose, smiled
down upon the parchcd little bunch of
men and cattle IA long hours as he sailed
across n cioudless sky, serenely uncon.
scious of the maledictions hurled against
him, while the bare. burning prairie star
ed back in unblinking defiance.
There were gorgeous sunsets every
evening-moments when the great fiery
ball seemed almost TO stand still to give
long backward glance before dropping
out Of sight, and with Midas touch turn
all the world to molten gold. But to the
played out COW puncher sunset means
nothing but bedtime--bedtime after a
hard parched. hopeless day. There were
clear, chaste moonlight nights Of won.
drous radiance, too, but the moon was
seen only in the early morning, when
they rose to another day, more hard,
more pnrched, more hopeless. The cattle
mere anatomical charts by this time
went staggering about in crazy circles,
too weak to need watching The three KS
on their tanks reduced to half the orgi.
nal size by the shriveling Of the hide or
fell heavily to the earth to rise again,
after many seasons of sun and shower, as
prairie flowers and salt grass. Their bel
lowing was reduced to u moan almost
human in its misery, for the one voice
common to all created things, animal or
human, is the voice Of suffering.
The Missonrian, u great, hulking young
fellow, was first OF the men 10 show signs
of weakening. That is the most terrible
moment in all like experiences, when the
men who have held on grimly and endur.
cd together see one Of their number los.
ing his grip. This had been an i'll as
sorted outfit when they started out with
the cattle across the plains, but standing
together, shoulder to shoulder, defyng
death against fearful odds, knits a man
deeply into the life of his fellow. Among
these men there was no spoken sym
patty, no overt act Of kindness, but In
their very sullenness was that grimmest
Of all sacrifices, each man enduring in
stole silence In order that he might not |
intrude his own suffcrings upon his al. |
ready overcrowded neighbor. The clinch-
ing of the lips to suppress groan when
one Is thirst maddened may require more
herOism than facing a cannon with flags |
flying and drums beating, inasmuch as
she that ruleth his own spirit is greater
than he that takcth city,"
At last one day the Mssourian gave
out utterly. He was not of the cowboy
build in the first place, but his splendid
and enthusiasm had in
duced Wilson. the boss. or yankee Bill"
his delirium he lay and cried for water
day and night. He blubbered and begged
for water and called upon the names of
those he had known in his childhood.
Every man went about his own business,
which was largely the formulating Of
fervent and eloquent oaths anent tho
heat, the drought and the delay, and up.
no one heard his cries. Water
was the one thing he wanted and the
one thing he could not get, SO after they
had put his boots under his head to make
lim comfortable they let him alone Un-
der ordinary circumstances Missourian
more or less was of no great consequence
10 yankee Bill" but this break in the
'anks shattered the last yestige Of hope.
Whatever may have been done after that
n the effort to keep up their spirits was
mere brarado, for each man foresaw the
md.
The Missourian had been a quiet sort
n the camp, and no one had ever heard
lin talk much, but now he talked inces-
antly in the soft, thick drawl of the
outh, and always of home scenes, of the
of boyhood that whetted the
dge Of their torture till 1t was beyond
III enduring. Now he was fishing along
ONE stream and swearing in round terms
t some fat head Niger" for soaring
he fish. Now he was in school strug-
ling with some problem he could never
olive beyond carry seven" Always CO.
erent enough to call up memories in
heir own minds of a youth, misspent for
he most part. They could not move
arther away because they were camped
nder the only shade in sight They
bought of dragging him off beyond ear.
not, but, while every one would have
cen glad to have it done, no man could
o 1t himself. Their horny hands had
rown gentle in their ministering touches.
Escape was long since out of the cues
ion. for the horses were worse off than
be men. Not one Of them could carry a
nddle, much less a rider. Each man
nd saved last charge In his revolver,
moving That that perhaps would be
Is only deliverance from death too
orrible to name. All but last Side"
Tho, when u decision had to be made be-
veen himself and his horse, had led her
ut behind little activity and put his
st charge through her game little heart.
ow be must make his exit in some other
'ay, II he would let his disembodied
brit pass on unincumbered by sun
arched frame. The knife he carried in
la boot was Il miSerab hack of q thing,
t only for shaving tobacco or chunking
aeon. He felt momentary regret as
e ran his fingers along its jagged edges
lat man with his record should be
bised to make his end with so mean a {