The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1906-12-27

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him were faint, furtive rustlings and
whispers of the new day. Then in
this gloriied dusk of the dawn a
squirrel loosed his bark of alarm, a
crested jay screamed in answer, and
he knew his hour of atonement was
come.
He pressed forward again toward
the desert, eager to be on with it.
The page with the wash Of blood
across it seemed to take on a new
vividness in the stronger light. Under
the stain, the letters Of the words
were magnifed before his mind
And as We would that men should
do to you" It seemed to him that
the blood through which they came
heated the words so that they burned
his eyes.
An hour after daybreak the trail led
him down out of the hills by a little
w]atercourse to the edge of the desert.
Along the sides of this the chaparral
grew thickly, and the spring by which
ne halted made a little spot of green
at the edge Of the gray. But out in
front of him was the infinite stretch OF
death, far sweeps of wind-furrowed
sand burning under a sun made sullen
red by the clouds of fine dust in the
air. Sparsely ove the dull surface
rev the few shrubs that could sur
vive the heat and unprecedented,
unlovely things of burr, spine, thorn,
o: s~aw-edged leaf,-all bent one ways
by the sand blown against them,-
bristling cactus and %crouching mes
cutie bushes.
In the vast open of the blue above,
a vulture wheeled with sinister alert
ness; and far out among the dwarfed
growing things a coyote skulked know
ingly. The weird, p~hantom-like beau
ty of 1t stole upon him, torn as he was,
while he looked owe the dry, fiat
reaches. 1t was a good place to die
in, this lifeless waste languishing un-
der al angry sun.
At last he gave his horse water, tied
the bridlerein to the horn of the sad
die, headed him back over the trail to
the valley and turned him loose. Then.
after a long look toward the saving
green of the hills, he started off
through the yielding sand, his face
white and haggard but hard-set. He
was already weakening by fasting and
loss of sleep, and the heat and dryness
soon told upon him as the chill was
warmed from tie morning air.
When he had walked an hour, he
felt he must stop, at least to rest. He
looked back to see how far he had
come. He was disappointed by the
nearness of the hills; they seemed but
a stones throw away. If delirium
came now he would probably wander
back to the water.
He walked another hour, then
turned, and was again disappointed
it was such a little distance; yet he
knew now he must be too far out to
find his way back when the madness
came. So it vas with a little sigh of
contentment that he lay down to rest
or to take what might come.
He was quite broken. Not since the
%long-gone night on the river-f1at across
from Nauvoo had tears wet his eyes.
But they fell now, and from sheer,
helpless grief he wept. And then for
the first time in two days he prayed
this time the prayer of the publ
CAM
God be merciful to me, a sinner"
Over and over he said the words,
chokingly, watering the hot sands
with his tears. When the paroxysm
had passed, it left him, weak and
prone. still family crying his prayer
into the sand, 20 God, be merciful to
me, a sinner"
When he had said over the words
as long as his parched throat would
let him, he became quiet. To his
amazement, some new, strange peace
peace Of death. He was glad to think
1t vas coming so gently-like a kind
mother soothing him to his last sleep.
His head on his arm, his whole tired
body relaxing in this new r%estfulness,
he opened his eyes and looked off to
the south, idly scanning the horizon,
his eyes level with the sandy plain.
Then something made him sit quickly
up and stare intently, his barred head
craning forward. To the south, lying
low, a mass Of light clouds, volatile,
changing with o%palescent lights as he
looked. A little to the left of these
clouds. while his head was on the
sand, he thought his eyes had de-
tected certain squared lines.
Now he scanned the spot with a
feverish eagerness. At first there was
only the endless empty blue. Then,
when his wonder was quite dead and
he was about to lie down, there came
a miracle CT miracles,-a vision in the
clear blue of the sky. And this time
the lines were coherent. He, the dying
sinner, had caught, clearly and posi-
lively for one awful second in that
sky, the flashing impression Of a cross.
1t faded as 500 as it came, vanished
while he gazed, leaving him in gasp
ing, fainting wonder at the marvel.
And then, before he could think or
question himself, the sky once more
yielded it's vision; again that image of
a cross stayed for a second in his