, 1905-01-25

coffee by the camp nre-Sucn q hre,
made of old buffalo chips" and drleo
cactus trunks! Now and again, too,
several of the cattle were missing.
Once in an effort to regain them the
men brought home a pony, an I'M
tanned. pinto thing, with wild eyes and
pink nostrils, and then Tige, the dog,
came in with an arrow through MS
hind leg.
They passed through a fringe of
hills. and the way was rocky and bad.
The precious cattle were eager eyed
and growing gaunt by that time. And
then the Colorado river. How majes-
tic its sweet flood! How full it's green
banks! How rich and suggestive its
PROMISE! To those longing eyes it
seemed like 1.-The swelling of Jordan
The Mojave Indians We're there, OF
course, for their villages were just on
the other side, but they were at peace
with the government, and there were
no more dangers of any kind to be
feared, thank God!
paw" said Boy, and the captain
noted how tall she was growing and
how rounded out and plump, paw,
these are the Mojaves, and they had
the Oatman girls in captivity, didn't
they?"
Eyes, they did, but they bought 'em
from the Tonic Apaches," he replied
quickly.
"And what was that verse little Ma
nv Ann sang when she was dying over
there in the chiefs tent?" Boy persist
ed. Strange how that bloody history
chung to them all!
The captain paused a minute, then
drew the brim of his hat over his eyes
as he repeated in a husky voice:
"How tedious and tasteless the hours
When Jesus no longer l see.
Sweet prospects,, sweet birds and sweet
flowers
Have all lost their sweetness to me-"
1t had been his old mothers favorite
hymn, and now to meet with 1t here
under such circumstances!
That afternoon one detachment of
fighting Indians drove off the cattle
herded a mile below the camp II an
other appeared suddenly in clouts and
war paint in the mesquite bushes
round the wagons, and clouds of ar
rows filled the air. They retreated from
the field by and by, when their chief
fell, dragging off their slain, for though
their visit had been Il surprise it had
received a warm welcome, but the cat
tie had faded away like mist, and these
white people seemed at tie mercy OF
the savages who had chosen to snew
themselves enemies.
What decision should the captain
make? Stay there and starve he could
not. Go forward he must not. Turn
back? Suffer that alkali and sand
again, that mirage by day ana comet
by night, that burden of dread, once
more? Must it be? There were a few
tethered Ken left, his w faithful
horse, the guide Sevadra's mule, but
they We're sore footed and worn. Be
fore night a steer and three or four
cows struggled in. They must have
peer too frightened or too unruly to
swim the river.
AT 10 hat night there was a desert
ed camp by the river, for two wagons
had stolen out, laden with provisions,
and all the people had followed them.
Eight wagons were left standing by
themselves, the open emptiness of
their hoods seeming to contain each u
single dark eye spying into the night.
Each eye saw by and by a great fire
built. A curious Indian tried the rock
ing chair; another ripped open a feath-
er bed and sent the contents flying; a
third broke in the top of the stove il.
sheer wantonness. Then each y in
the flare and flame might have wink
ed, for a couple of casks were tapped,
n the Indians began to drink the
fiery contents. The soul of the Indian
turns to liquor, and here was some so
good it had been brought from the
Iowa bottoms for medicine. 1t was
serving its purpose now.
The two wagons Travelled back an
hour and paused. In the stiffness of
the night there came across the dis
lance the wal whoops of drunken saw
ages, and the wagons stole still far
ther away every human being in the
train afraid to breathe hard lest he
bring the dread that lay behind upon
them, and so they We're spared.
They reached the Oatman graves
again some three months later, their
W wagons as dilapidated as a man
and woman a century old. Among the
rest in the wheel tracks there followed
laggingly a forlorn looking girl, the
remains of a prance yet in her car
riage. Pieces of cowhide were dashed