El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-05-12

Edith Ellery could not have been call
ed a religious woman. Although dec
orous attendant at church services,
+ with certain appreciation of the as-
thetic beauty of the liturgy of the church
she called her own, her heart had never
been reused to its depths. But there are
times when the most apathetic soul
must awake in instructive clinging to
that innate faith in a merciful, listen
ing God without which men might
we'll go mad. In her heart sinking de-
spair, almost unconsciously the girl
raised her tear wet eyes, praying as she
never had prayed before in all the calm
security of her happy life.
Over and over again she murmured
her one impassioned plea, finding strange
comfort in the unreasOning repetition,
and i'll the exalted mood that came upon
her it seemed like direct answer to her
cry, the idea which flashed upon her as
she faced the dividing point in the
roads. 1t was the one to the right which
led to Cheyenne, but now she remen-
bered that she could turn to the left and
go to Hereford City instead, where she
could telegraph for a doctor, giving her
self the advantage of a road she had
Travelled before, as we'll as saving no lit
tie valuable time. She almost laughed
aloud in hysterical relief as the idea oc
CURED to her. ''Only 80 miles to Here
ford City. Only 30 milesl. Surely we
can make that in time to save him.
AS compared with the greater distance
she had anticipated it seemed as moth
ing.
But it was a day of dry, almost tropic-
al heat A film of hot air quivered over
the baking earth, and the cattle stood
still, staring with eyes Of helpless ap
peal, now bending to the curling, fuzzy
grasses that seemed shriveling to ashes
beneath the sun s fierce fires. Edith was
conscious of weary effort, in noting
each smallest object along the way, in
resolutely keeping her thoughts from
turning backward. Mrs. CampbeIl's
words were always ringing in her ears,
'All creation can't do anything but
trust in the Lord. - And ever as in
numbing despair, she crouched over the
saddle with more overpowering weari-
ness, over and over her quivering lips
framed her one pitiful cry, ''Oh, God,
give me time-give me time to save
himH'
Spent with fatigue, so little accus-
toned to hard riding that she began to
suffer torture from that most senseless
continuance for rea! service, the modern
sidesaddle, her eyes winking painfully
with the white, hot glare, while her
face smarted with sunburn, the land
scape began to appear maddeningiy
monotonous. Mile after mile was the
same grass grown, half obliterated line
of road, relentlessly unchanging.
She had fancied that. she must find
the way somewhat familiar, but ON and
Oh she vent, over one rise of ground
after another, with always the same vast
sea Of unchanging grays and browns,
with never an object which stood out in
distinct reminder of that other drive
when Paul Brown had brought her to
meet the carriage from the ranch. Here
and there wheel marks crossed the road !
at different angles, leading she could |
not guess whittier. She was sure she had !
not seen SO many ON that other day. Any |
one of them might be the way she ought |
to go for aught she could tell, although |
she kept to the vague line upon which |
she had started with sort of blind de- |
spair, even while gradually conviction |
that she had, after all, missed her way |
was growing in her mind. 1t began to |
seem at last as if some uncanny spell |
had been cast upon her and she were !
doomed to an endless race with the black |
blotch of shadow ever lying still upon
the ground beside her, mocking her with
the fancy that her progress was all a
delusion that in reality she was not 60
ing Oh at all. And yet she could not go
back. She must struggle ON to whatever
result might be. She could not turn
back-to him, stricken down in her
service! She could not turn back until
she had done her utmost, even though
she persisted in that vast world of empti-
ness where even the cattle now seemed
turned to stone.
But, as if her prayer in truth had
reached the listening ear of heaven, she
could not have kept more unswervingly
to the direct route toward her goal nor
have made better time upon her mis-
sion. 1t was but a little after l o'clock
when, exhausted to the utmost limit of
her strength, as it seemed, she dismount-
ed before the last gate of Cameron's
ranch, her limbs SO cramped and stiff
ened that she could not mount again.
She totteIed rather than walked across
the bridge and down to the house, where
the cook, frying pan in hand, stood
staring i'll the door.
MIR. Blythe-can 1 see hi1n?" she
asked, leaning heavily against the horse
for support.
Eyes, ma'am. He's just over at the
barn. Come right i'll, ma am, Or, fall
'ering, with a frightened glance over
MS shoulder 1T the disorder growing out
If dinner half cleared away, "just
wait minute, and I'll go call him.
The horse pulled impatientIy, and
Edith, comrrehending his need, YEARLY
followed his lead Oh to the Watering