Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1902-03-27

with babbling brooks. He thought Of
"jackstones" and tried to catch sew
eral of the pebbles on the back of his
sore withered hand. Then in the glar-
ing sun he fell straight backward and
hurt his head. 1t seemed to him that
he rose Immediately, but really he was
supine for half an hour. He sat up
finally, and as he came back to sitting
posture, still muttering necessarily, a
wild cry rang across the desert. It was
inarticulate, but there was despair in
it. It sounded startlingly close and it
had the singular effect to sober Mr..
Hope, it were. The shock of it made
him sane. He staggered to his feet
and looked about him klinkingly.
Not so yards away stood woman,
or a girl child, he could not tell which.
The figure stretche its hands toward
him and he went to it doubtingly. 1t
was in slightly better case than he,
for it could still talk: It said:
'For Gods sake. water!"
Hope mumbied something, intended
for "There is not water in this coun-
try" he stared at the figure; the fig
ure stared at him from under loose
hair. In these circumstances sex
ceases. He put his arm about the fig
ure's waist and supported it. He was
brave man, was Hope, and he told him
self in that instant that here was a life
miserably dependent upon his own and
that he would work harder to save it
than he had yet worked. The thought
seemed to give him strength, and he
stood erect for the first time in many
hours. His implaca BILE science told him
that there was no drinllable water in
Death valley, but he remembered that
when he was an idle and purposeless
boy he used to read Beadlc's dime nov
els, and in one of these novels vas
heroic Indian slayer who had got water
in the valley by digging for it with his
tomahawk. He almost smiled at the
recollection and he wished that he
might have the snug, well-fed, I'M
thirsty author Of that romance for 4s
hours in the valley itself. instead of
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 a cleft. or lengthy de.
preston, in the internal soil. Possibly
100000 of years ago it had been a
creek. Its bed was still defined and
it was of sand. Hope cast about
him until he found silver of red rock,
sharp-pointed, foot wide and three
feet long-just scale of the stone. in
fact-and with this he set to digging
slowly. The sand was loose, and by
heroic effort at the end of an hour or
two he had gone down four feet in a
narrow hole. The woman sat near him.
She had not uttered word since her
first pitiful plea and she did not watch
him while he dug. Six inches further
foot and water could be squeezed from
it; another foot and small pool of it,
six inches across and half inch deep,
was visible. 1t was hot but swee tish
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 everlast-
ing credit of Francis Hope that he
climbed from the hole, went to the
woman, brought her to its edge, took
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 a
broken thigh and giving his last drop
to wounded soldier, did not do finer
deed. Five small swallows of the water
restored the scientific mind to its nor
NAL precision, and he saw that neither
his companion nor himself got too
much Of it. 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 a fixed point dimly seen in
the dusk. At ten that night they came
to trail, broad and beaten, and lay
down beside it to sleep, the woman
resting her head upon his shoulder like
tired child. At midnight 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
to the forward end, 20 feet away, and
between them was noun ainous 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 toge her 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 .
charming wife, magazine article or
two, an impressionistic description of
the pangs of thirst, an elucidated and