St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1903-08-29

dition night found him, staggerin
on, sliding back one-half of ever
step in the sand and often falling
he would imagine he could hear COZ
ote: and see them a few yards ava
on either hand, lodging from on
cactus to another, and keeping clos
watch on him. In reality he had no
seen living thing since he left cam1
he kept on, staggering and falling
he dared not stop. It was dark now
He stumbled, fell heavily, and lay
thinking to rest a moment. The
he fell. asleep. He awoke Will,
dreaming that he was resting in tn,
shade Of some trees by runnin,
stream; he did not realize for a mo
ment where he was, but when he re
membered he jumped up and moved
on. he knew not which way-only te
be going. When lie thought Of his
direction with horror, he came back
to see from his tracks, which way he
had been going when he fell.
He got on his knees and made q
circle to find the tracks, for he could
tell nothing from the tracks where
he had lain in the sand. He made a
circle, but found no track; he made
larger circle and examined every
part of the sand, with the same re,
suit; he could not tell north, south,
east nor west.
He knew of the North star and
the Dipper, but he had never had
use for them before, and now every
star looked alike to him. They
would brighten up, then fade away.
He was becoming blind and he could
hear nothing but what seemed the
bowling of coyotes and water rum
ming. The coyotes seemed drawing
nearer, and the thought of his bare
bones lying on the desert in few
hours started him to his feet. He
took the course he was facing. He
was very weak, and reeled as he went
IN the direction of his discovery Of
The morning before. That seemed to
act as magnet, in his weak condi-
ion. He thought now, in his suf-
'ering. Of his Creator and of the
Hereafter. He had never given either
much thought before, but he knew
low he was facing them. Suddenly |
lie came upon his tracks and found |
hat he had been walking in circle.
hen his last hope fed; he staggered,
ripped, fell heavily on his head and
~ unconscious.
When the man recovered conscious
ess he was lying on some brush
gainst large granite Rolder which
ormed one side of brush hut. On
ne other side was the door, through
,hich could be seen pine trees whose
ranches moved to and fro, giving a
drring music. The man tried to un-
erstand what had happened, and
len marveled that he was still in the
ody; he moved his limbs and traced
IS features with his hand, trying to
himself. While thus
linking he heard voices speaking
Danish outside. Then an old In
an woman came in, looked at him
ra1gely, and asked in Spanish how
was. He told her he felt well,
It the sound of his own voice fright
ed him, and he would say no more.
tier in the day an old and young q
an came into the place. They had /
identity been hunting all day. From r
EN- the prospector learned of his d
scue. v
A few months prior to the white c
ms journey an Indian, named b
nto, Mexican outlaw, for whom h
large reward was offered, lived by b
lrting the desert from one water F
le to another, and relieving pros el
'tors of their provisions (and mis- Of
esq, if he saw them first, through
} sights of his rifle. In this way st
had maintained himself for years, p1
til he located the rich placers in d.
mo, for which discovery the Mex re
n government pardoned him his ia
mes. The rush to the new placers ns
5 great; Indians and Mexicans tn
re going from all quarters. Pinto ia
sent word to a friend at Yuma sc
come to the mines. He described r,
course his friend should take. &C
how he would recognize the camp i'd
en- he reached it. It had large =
nber OF alamo (cottonwood) trees
the gulch, which was surrounded
from which the ocean
ID be seen, about 40 miles away.
man started from Yuma with
wife, daughter and young son.
y took a westerly direction, but
few days had lost their bearings
drifted out in the desert.
.veral days out of Yuma they
'sed tracks. They followed this
in it's zig-zag career, then they
ssed the truth-some one was lost
he desert and they concluded to
wv him. They had not gone far
n they found the unconscious
J. In their own way they treated
and gave him little water at
liar intervals, then packed him on
FRO, changed their course to the
h, for they knew the country.
on the fourth day they reached
camp in which the escaped fugi- Boz
heard their story. When the pa I'VE
was well enough they wanted
to go to the new field with them: TO
egged them to return with him. sch'
told them of the wonderful dis
" and the good outfit which was NOR
m the desert somewhere. AS the whe
pector told of the nugget trail are
feet wide, the old man would man
at his wife and raise his shoul- stru
slowly in strange way. But OF
insisted; he tried in ing
) way to get them to return tant
him. His persistence was the to Il
thing which would alter the thell
which persistently played on the
old mans bony features. He OF Il
change the subject nv SAVING you