Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1902-07-10
Out from the
V alley
BY H. S. cANFIELD.
AUTHOR OF "AAID OF TIE WEST" ETC


II
| n Smithsonian institution and had
formed a part Of several Of its scieu-
tife expeditions, Mr. Francis Hope,
aged 30 and o bachelor. was inclined to
believe that he knew q good deal about
many things He did not know, how
ever. that unreyealed iron deposits viii
sometimes affect the needle Of o COM
pass. or that, even upon most barren
land. rocks and struggling grasses and
such things are as sure guides 10
plainsman as chart. Therefore, when
his party had been five days in Deaths
valley, Mr. Francis Hope left camp
in the morning with a mule and a
water bottle and in the afternoon
found himself lost. Around him on
every hand rose rock-ribbed Lodges,
dark red in hue Under his feet was
sand. moistureless and sometimes
shining with saline particles. Strapped
TO his back was leathern bottle, pref
" nearly emptied. 4 few PAGES away
was a mule. with its long ears down be-
tween It's irascible temper which helps
a football player, but is fatal to pro-
found mathematics. He walked TO the
spraddling mule and kicked il in the
belly. The animal toppled over on its
side and died He looked around for
the five hundredth time, to be met with
the same view OF red rock, cloudy sky,
sand and solitary spanish dagger
growing here and there, sharp pined,
dry, murderous, fl emblem of the
country. He said Damn" and threw
his compass away. This helped him a
little. because he then depended solely
upon himself Then he shook up the
water bottle. heard the faint gurgle in
side Of il. set his teeth. fixed his eye on
a distant point and walked. He did not
know where nor in what direction he
was going. but, at least. he was 60
ing in a straight line. That was some
comfort. And he walked until swift !
dark fell. Then the exhaustion which |
comes from prolonged exertion in an |
atmosphere Of 125 degrees Of heat |
came upon him and he rolled and tossed |
In restless sleep. He walked before day |
light and wrestled hard with himself /
to keep from draining the last drop |
Of water, and he won. At ten O'Clock
next morning he estimated that he was
20 miles from the dead mule. Nature
would not be denied longer. He raised
he bottle to his lips. A quarter pint
OF warmish leathery water went down
his throat. He swore and threw the
bottle from him, set his eye upon dis
tant point and went on doggedly.
At four o'clock that afternoon the
lips Of Mr.. Hope were blackan cracked
and sand had got into the cracks. His
tongue. swollen and hlackish also. pro-
truded a half inch between his teeth.
His face was a grayish yellow and the
skin was in folds. He stopped like an
old man and often stumbled. Setting
his eve upon a fixed point, be discov-
cred a strong tendency TO walk in a
half circle. Sand was under his finger
nails. for he had fallen often, and his
feet were on fire. He mumbled To him
eslf:
Darwin was right-man's same rs
iellyfsh-iellyfish got no backbone
I've got no backbone-all hell holds no I
torment ike this-give me to drink to-
night one single drop of Lethe's tabled
sup-must have been cool, cool, cool !
md sparkling, that stream Of Lethe. Z
Use WHY should the Greeks prate about !
= 20 a diving mana dying man-that !
ehthyosauri and peliosauri lived in ]
yater-in water-the mammoth came
Down 10 drink-to drink-curse all
ammoths-through breast and bone /;
drove the stone and slew him upon
he brink-upon the brink 10 drink !
was his blood / drank-gushing blood r
and II seemed cool, too" n
The trained scientific mind Of Mr..
hope was wabbly. He sat down upon /
pile Of red pebbles and played with >
hem absentIy. He had dim disordered
memories Of his childhood, mixed up \
ritb babbhng brooks. He thought Of !,
and tried to catch sew
raj Of the pebbles on the back Of his !,
ore withered hand Then in the glar- :.
,r sun he fell straight backward and
urt his head. Il seemed 70 him that >.
. rose Immediately. but really he was
mime for half an hour. He sat up .,
.nallv. and rs be came back 20 sitting
GESTURE stiu muttering necessarily, a :.
desert III was Z