Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1903-09-12
The Gray Death
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BY HDE B. FOULKES.


I'D OR heavens sake, Doc, give me
that flask if there's anything in
1t. How much longer can this last?
Several hours? God! Hours-when
every minute must seem like century!
There-there's-no chance now, is
there?"
about one in ten thousand, If he
doesn't have water; not one if he does"
was the reply.
"And-if he should get water, how
long then?"
GA much shorter time, and there'd be
no pain. You see the pain from the
bite is gone long ago. It's the thirst
now that's making him crazy. They all
go that way; conscious to the last,
crying and begging for water with
nearly every breath; sometimes they
go raving mad, and it takes half
dozen men to hold them. When they
drink water they go easy-but they
60"
The listener shivered DR.. Eliot
looked thoughtfully across the white
sandbanks and scrub palmettos to the
cemetery beyond. 81 tell you," he went
on, "the devilish diamond-backs have
contributed a generous share toward
settling UP that lott" waving his hand
toward the white gravestones that glis-
tened in the sunlight
For an instant, as his gaze rested
Y1nnn tho c-ri171U hoa6 on6 coor,od 70 %
of the old doctor, the other mans
thoughts wandered away from the
agonizing means that come through
the door opening into the room where
the sufferer lay, to the weli-known
story of the doctors young wife,
whom he had brought here 20 years
before, and who was one of the first
of the little colony to fall a victim to
the deadly Florida rattlesnake, and
that before the honeymoon had begun
to wane; of how he'd grown gray
grieving for her and cursing himself
for ever taking her to such a wild, I'M
settled spot; and had spent his life in
an effort to exterminate this terrible
gray death" that 1urked in the most
innocent-looking places, and to dis
cover an antidote for it's fatal venom
AS if in answer to his thoughts, the
doctor said, his face white and drawn:
"You think you suffered last night,
Hendricks, as you stood over poor Bob
and watched his agony, which you
were powerless to relieve; yes-I know
his cries will ring through your brain
for months to come, and you'll see his
face every time you shut your eyes
Or open them either, for that matter"
He had risen, and was pacing back
and forth. well, imagine the woman
you worship lying there in his place!
Why, l tell you I can see her just as
distinctly as if she were before me-
Time has not dimmed the picture, and
every day for 20 years I've lived it over
and oyer!" His voice sank as if talk
ing to himself
For Ia hours after she was bitten
she lived; for the first several hours
she suffered tortures beyond the power
of any words to express, begging, pray
ing, for Just one drink Will her
voice, her face, her hands as they
clutched mine, ever cease to haunt me?
Then she begged us all to get out and
leave her alone, so she could get the
water; we need not give it to her;
that she would be SO willing to die If
only she had one drink. And my
God! go mad yet, when I remember
/ would hold her in my arms and try
to quiet her. I gave her morphine I'M
til l didn't dare give her more, but
without any effect. Once somebody in
the hall spilled some water acciden-
tally. At the sound of it she started
up, her dear eyes SO full of longing
and suffering, and then she folded her
little hands (she was only a girl, you
know and prayed that her sufferings
might soon be ended, someway-her
cheeks wet with tears. I remember
how the cold sweat dripped from my
hands and face, and how desperately
I prayed, at that moment, for help and
guidance. 1t came. She went quietly,
like a baby falling asleep on its moth
er's breast. l can see the smile on her
sweet face now, and to me she's never
been dead, but just taking a long
Sleep
Both men were sobhing unrestrain-
edly. The tragedy being played out
within a few feet Of them was swal-
lowed up for the moment in that other
dark one of twenty years before.
Il must go now" said the doctor,
brokenly, ito another patient; I'll be
back here within an hour"