The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1906-05-28
A Desert Drama

the MOjave desert you saw notnlng
but sand and scrub and cactus. No
living things were to be found out there
except the serpent and the lizard.
Only the vulture spread his wings to
fly over it.
In the rank and file Of the army this
lonely frontier post was called the
Death post Not that there was more
sickness there than elsewhere, but that
an average Of four men per year went
out from it and were heard Of no more.
They were always private soldiers, and
they were always men who had acted
queerly for days before. They had
been found brooding or weeping. They
had ceased to laugh or smile. There
was fear in their eyes. One BY one
at intervals they had quietly gone
forth ut night, and when their alb
sence had been reported the surgeon
had gently said to the commandant:
1T Is not desertion. The men have
been awed and terrorized by the pres.
ence of the desert. 1t has drawn them
to itself. Out there on its bosom there
will be another skeleton"
The commandant may have agreed,
but he could not 80 state In his Official
reports. 1t must be missing" or de
sertion." In time his superiors de-
manded explanations and limited at
laxity Of discipline. They even sent
him to q new field and sent an iron
man to replace him. a colonel, who
laughed at the desert and felt no awe
when he looked up at the rugged cliffs
which the brawiing river had cut its
way through when the world was
younger by q million years. His PAN
acea for lonesomeness, for homesick-
ness and for sentiment was drill and
plenty of it. He would give the men
no time to think. When they told him
that Private Parker was acting queer
" he had the man before him and
cursed and threatened and ridiculed.
Two nights later, when the midnight
relief came around to Parker's post 1t
found his musket lying on the ground,
but the man himself was missing.
HE heard the call Of the desert, and
he has gone to his DEATH" whispered
his comrades.
1.-THE man is a deserter, and I will
have him back here within two days
or resign my commission" exclaimed
the man Of iron.
Squads were sent out, and the search
continued for three days without sue.
cess Then the commandant deter
mined to put the post to shame and kill
sentiment and superstition at a blow.
He mounted his horse and rode away
over the desert. He would find the de-
serter and bring him In. He believed
the man had taken food and drink
with him and pushed for the mining
towns on the other edge Of the sea Of
sand. He should he overhauled and an
example made of him. They watched
the colonel take straight course over
the sands, which were just beginning
to heat up under the morning sun Of a
summers day. He was strongly mount
ed and carried water and provisions.
and at his watch chain was compass.
The colonel had figured that the de-
serter could not have made over forty
or fifty miles. That would not be half
way across the desert. Despite the
heat the horse had covered that dis
lance before the sun went down. The
colonel had seen skeletons as he rode
the skeletons Of men and Of animals
to the right and left and ahead Of him.
He had derided them. He had noted
that two great vultures lowered over
him as he rode, looking down on him
always. but utteripg no croak or cry.
He had smiled ut them. A thousand
times he had cast his eyes around him
and taken in the dreariness, but he had
laughed it to scoru. And now night
had come. and he was as much alone
as If there had been no other human
being on the face of the world. He
ate and drank and sought sleep. II
would not come. He counted the stars
above him: he counted the numerals:
he cursed himself as being more fool
ish than a woman.
OF sudden the officer found himself
sitting up and staring out into the
AA6AS oAAO lAOSCAAA6 81 AACCASAy SA0S A0
detected the movements of q lizard
yards away. The situation was get
ting on his nerves, and he struck
himself In anger an he realized 1t. Do
what he could, he could not sleep. As
he looked out across the sands he
thought every cactus a moving figure
every figure an enemy. His horse
trembled and perspired and snorted
and finally broke away. He listened
to the thud of its hoofs until they
quite died away. and then he sat with
his face in Ills hands. He had sneered
at and derided the desert, but the
desert had conquered the man of iron.
Who can tell Of the next day, with its
blazing sun roasting and scorching?
The frightened horse had galloped
miles away. The mans footsteps sank
deep into the shifting sands at every
move. and the serpents and lizards
and cactus were ever before him.
Above him the vuItures were ALWAYS
lowering and waiting, and If he shook
M