The Bourbon news., 1902-02-21

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The figure stretched its hands toward
him and he went to it doubtingly. I
was in slightly better case than he
for it could still talk. 1t said:
"For Gods sake, water!"
Hope mumb,ed something, intendet
for ''There is not water in this eoun
try" He stared at the figure: The fig
ure stared at him. from under iOcS
hair. In these circumstances sc,
ceases. He put his arm about the fig
ure's waist and supported it. He was
brave man, was Hope, and he tod him
self IN that instant that here was lif
m'serably dependent upon his own an
In. he would work harder to save
than he hasPl' ~ worked. The though
seemed to givS~ him streTfzsSths and h
stood erect for theraCst time in >.qan
hours. His implacable sScience told hin
that there was no drinkaNple water in
Death valley, but he rememSsre that
when he was an idle and purRoseless
boy he used to read Beadle's dim
els, and in one of these novels MAS a;
kReroic Indian slayer who had got waite
.s4 the valley by digging for it with
NatA lhawk. He almost smiled at :.
fecoilection and he wished that he
might have the snug. well-fed un-
thirsty asftrHUit o. h-sr Tor As
hours in the valley itself. inst, AZ. If
in his New York room, with hot and
cold water pipes within ten feet of
him. Nevertheless he kept his arm
about the figure and gently urged it
Onward.
They came to cleft. or lengthy de-
preston, in the Internal soil. Possibly
30.00O,OOO of years ago it had been a
creek. It's bed was still defined and
it Nlas' of sand. Hope cast about
hhn until he found a silver Of red rock,
sharp-pointed, a foot wide and three
feet long-just a scale of the stone, in
fact-and with s.Set to digging
slowly. The sanC '@on ne, and by
heroic effort at the end Of an hour or
TWO he had gone down four feet in
narrow hole. The woman sat near him.
She had not uttered a word since her
first pitiful plea and she did not watch
him while he dug. Six inches further
and the sand became moist. Another
foot and water could be squeezed from
it; another foot and a small pool of it,
six inches across and half inch deep,
was visible. 1t was hot but sweetish,
evidently seep from some one of the
saline or alkaline lakes. and the min
eral had been filtered from it in its
passage. Set it down to the eeverlast-
ing credit of Francis Hope that he
climbed from the hole, went to the
woman, brought her TO its edge, took
a half pint in his hat and poured it
down her throat, while his own lips
were bleeding. I say that Sir Philip
Sidney, riding from battle with
broken thigh and giving his last drop
to a wounded soldier, did not do finer
deed. Five small swallows of the water
restored the scientific mind to it's nor
NAL precision, and he saw that neither
his companion nor himself got too
much of il. They rested by the little
pool until the sun set. then took a final
draught and set out. Reason had come
back to her eyes, and she placed her
hand in his as she stepped out bravely,
his eye on fixed point dimly seen in
the dusk. At ten that night they came
to a trail, broad and beaten, and lay
down beside it to sleep, the woman
resting her head upon his shoulder like
a tired child. At midnight a 16-mule
team came by. 1t dragged a huge
wagon loaded with crude borax, and
the driver alternately swore and sang.
He gave them food and drink, asked
few questions, and, supposing them TO
be man and wife, offered them a bed
in his huge enormous vehicle. Sex had
reasserted itself. Hope laughed and
the woman blushed So she curled her
self in the rear end of it and Hope went
10 the forward end, 20 feet away, and
between them was mountainous bar
rier of bOraX.
Next day She told him her story. Her
father and brothers were CalifOrnians
and prospectors camped upon the edge
of the desert. She had quit school and
accompanie them for the novelty of
It and had wandered from the tent in
pursuit of beetles. She had been more
saving with her water bottle and had
been out IL hours longer than Hope.
Her name was Beatrice Holden, and
while she rode she blOssOmed out won
derfully, finally ending as a frank,
somewhat plump and very pretty girl
of 20, with a constant trustfulness in
and dependence upon her rescuer.
| They went to the Needles together and
from there to Los Angeles, where she
had friends. The end of it was that he
/ asked her to marry him. and she did.
He took her to Washington with him
| and has got out of his experience a
charming wife, magazine article or
two, an impressionisti description of
the pangs of thirst, an elucidated and
printed theory to the effect that wOm-
en- are capable of more endurance than
men and a profound pamphlet on the
possibility and desirability of irrigat-
ing Death valley.
'0ThirdIy' Was Missing.
Dr. Gordon, who was the first min
ister of the church in Jamaica Plain,
about the year 1771, was Scotchman,