The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1907-12-07
DON ESTABAN GU!TERAS.
Continued from page H.

ness of the presence of God.
After time an inexpressible sense of drowsi
ness possessed me. l had often travelled far OIL
deserts, but never before had felt so utterly three
and sleepy. l remembered saying to myself, Jus
for half hour and when l awoke the sun wa
rising over the mountains. | to my feet
blessed myself and moved on, knowing [ was going
to have hard fight of it.
At 10 o'clock the heat was that of smelling
furnace. As [ walked my feet sank in the yield
ing sand. [ very thirsty, but l would not
touch the water in my canteen, treasuring 1t as a
miser his gold. The blazing sun sucked away all
perspiration, before it had time to become sweat
and collect upon the skin. To sweat would have
helped me, but no man sweats in the desert. |
now discarded all my clothing but my undershirt,
drawers, hat and boots, even my stockings [ flung
upon the dry sand.
THE FIGHT FOR LIFE.
And now, for the first time / took drink from
my canteen, not much, but enough to partially
quench the fire of my parched tongue. [ had my
senses about me, [ retained my will and [ took the
water, for [ knew that my tongue was beginning
to swell At noon | struck pot-hole or sink half
filled with clear sparkling water. | took some
of it up in the lid of my caneen touched my
tongue to it and found it to be- what l suspected
impregnated with copperas and arsenic. My body
was fire and thinking to obtain some relief |
soaked my shirt, drawers and shoes in the beauti-
full cool water, and in my wet clothes struck for
the mountains looming some twenty miles ahead of
me. [ was a new man and for an hour felt neither
thirst nor fatigue.
"Then a strange numbness began to creep over
my body. 1t was not pain, but feeling akin TO
what | have been told incipient paralytics feel
when the demon of paralysis has a grip on them. I
sat down, drank some water and for the first time
since l left the canyons mouth took some food.
When I tried to rise [ fell over on my side, but 1
got up, lifted my canteen and looked around me-"
Pardon me- Don Estaban, was your mind be-
coming affected?"
NO my brain was clear and my will resoute.
They say hope dies hard. Ny hope never died, l
pushed on, resolved if l must die, it would be only
when my tired or diseased limbs could no longer
obey my will. Ten miles, at least | walked, the
fierce sun beating down remorselessy upon me.
Walked did l say! l dragged myself through hell,
for my bones were grinding in the joints my skin
afame and three times | vomited. [ fought
the cravings of my body, for if [ sat down 1 might
never arise. Not living thing anywhere in sight.
/ believe | would have welcomed brood of rattle
snakes, of scorpions, of tarnantulas, deathly
quiet was the air around me-
"Out in the lonely desert | deliberately stripped
to the nude, dipped my hands in my canteen and
rubbed my body. I then, as best I could, beat and
shook my shirt and drawers for [ now began to
suspect [ was being poisoned by the copperas and
I l.
how hot the air was, how fercely blazed the sun,
how the burning sand threw out and into my face
and eyes the pitiless glare and heat.
A CLOSE CALL.
Il dressed and taking my canteen, slowly but
resoutely, set my face for the mountains now near
ing me. Once [ fell, but in falling saved the wa
ter. With painful effort [ rose up, took mouth
full of water and onward 1 went while the frma-
ment was cloudless Ger my head"
Don Estaban paused in his painful and fasci
mating narrative, took few sips of maraschino,
and said
Il will weary you no further with the story of
my awful experience in that accursed waste of
sand and heat. reached the foothills how I
scarcely know, but L lost consciousness, not my
reason, and those who found me and cared for me
told me they thought | was dead when they lifted
me from the arroyo into which [ had fallen"
Did you ever get over the effects of that aw-
full trip?" I asked
ooh, yes" he said ''in three months l as
we'll as I ever was. We Mexicans tough, and
if we only take care of ourselves when young
can stand anything You see, like the Irish, we
are the sons of pure mothers who obey the laws
of God and nature"
When Don Estaban rose to depart, he took from
his pocket photograph of himself and his family
and handed it to me, saying: "Espero que lie vol
we're yer a listed pronto"-I hope to see you soon
again.
took it gratefully and tenderly from his hand
assuring him of my appreciation of his kindness,
my affection and admiration for himself and his