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

anil called upon the names of those he
had known in his chill hood. Every
man went about his own business,
VII chsHas ltrge' y the formulating OF
ie vent and eloquent oaths anent the
; heat, the drought ard the de'a.-, and
apparently no one heard his cries.
Water was the one thing be wanted,
and the one thing they could not get,
so, after they had put his boots under
his head to make him comfor able, they
let him alone. Cuder or mary circum-
stances Missonrian more or less was
of no great consequence to "1anfee
| iFil,"sfut this break in the ranks
shattered the last vsstige of hope.
Whatever may have been d ne after
.thatin the effort to ke p up their splr-
its was mere brayado, for each man
! foresaw the end. : e,,=t
The Missourian had been 3 quiet
sort%in the came, q d no one had eve.
heard him talk much, but now he
talked incessantly in, the soft, thick
drawl of the south. And always. OF
home see es. of the memories of boy
fhood that whetted the edge of their
! torture till it was beyond all endnr-
] ance.4fNoW be was fishing along some
!; streams now he was in school strug-
gins HHith some problem be could
Epayat Solve i.sye q 8. .s;>zy- ;sss'e5
7 Alwa}s coherent enough to call up
memories in their own minds of g
yoush, 2,nisspent for the most-part.
TA-y could not move farther away
because they were camred under the
only shade in sight. They thought of
dragging him of beyond ear-shot, but
viii every one would have been glad
to have done it, no man could do it
himself. Their horny hands had grown
gentle in their ministering touches.
Escape was long since out of the
question, for the horses were worse
of than the men; not ore of them
could carry a saddle, much less riler.
Each man had saved last charge in
his revolver, knowing that that per-
haps would he their only deliverance
from a death too horrible to name.
All out "East-Si3e," who, when d.
cis;on had to be made between himself
and his horse, had led her out tehlnd
a Ii tie .accliv ty and put his last charge
through her ga ne little heart. Now
he must make his exit in some OF or
way, if be would let his disembodied
spirit pass on unincumbered by sun
parched frame. The knife he carri d
IN his hoot wes miserable hack Of q
thing, fit only for sha ing tobacco OR
chunking bacon. He felt momentarv
regret as be ran his fingers alon, its
agged edges that. a man with hisrecord
shculd be obliged to make his end
with so mean a weapon. The big
Swede in moment Of madness had
raised his pistol as if it had been o
Jug, say ng: "Wal, boys, here's to a
wetter country!'' But he had not
shot. The cod iron seemed to cool
the rashness # his brain, and the mir
age of hope lurel them on day far
ther.
Alter the second day the Missouri
ans talk began to grow less, his raving
subsided in weak, incoherent bab-
bling; at last it ceased altogether, and
be lay s:a ing wide-eyed into the re-
lentless sky. As they had lone every
thing else, they did this silently, stoic-
ally. A shallow bed was scooped out
and the canvas taken off the wagon
Tor e winding sheet. When. the
broken circle closed in a"ound the
open grave, the boss cleared his throat
and said: ''Boys, before we so any
| farther, some one must make prayer,
sabe?"
They saeed, but although every
mans soul might be consumed with a
vo celess cry to some power above
himself for the repose Of the departed
soul and release from like fate, they
were all dumb when confronted by the
THOUGHT of taking the name OF fod
reverently. Instinctively they turned
to "i7ast-Side. -
ssIt's your lead, EAST Side," they
sad. And 6 ast-Side," groping
| b!indly backward toward the memo
ries o: his you h, tried to recall some
thing of religious import. Slowly
through his desiccated brain psrcola ed
line from church hymn, "From
Greeu!and's Icy Mountains, but al
though the thought was pleasant in
thus burning desert, the. words were
| not TO the Jesides, that was all
he knew Of it. Fe shook his head
sorrowfully. SIN the beginning,'-
he thought be had struck the right
lead tlere-FIn the beginning, God
created -" But again he was stuck
and c, uld go no further.
"Lead mp, ast-Sids:" they urged.
TAea TIE light broke. The ackward
groping had brought hin. down to the
days OF his childhood, to the Nerds
| his grandfather had been wont to say,
II p.