Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1907-03-21
CHAPTER Xxx.
The Picture in the Sky.


II something OF the peace OF the
night silence came TO him as he rode.
he counted II only the peace of sur.
render and despair. He knew now
that he had been cheated of all his |
great long.nursed hopes Of some supe. |
rior eNaltation. Nor this only: for he |
had sinned unforglvably and incurred !
perdltion. He who had tasted. prayed. |
aud endured, waiting for his Witness. !
for the spreading OF the heavens ana
the glory Of the open vision. had over. I
reached himself and was cast down.
When at last he slowed his horse TO |
walk. II was the spring OF the day. |
The moon had gone. and over on his |
left a soft graynoss began to show |
above the line OF the hills. The light |
grew until IL glowed with the fire OF
opals; through the treetops ran little
stlrs of wakefulness, and all about
him were faint. furtive rustlings and
whispers OF the new day. Then in
this glorified dusk of the dawn a
squirrel loosed his bark of alarm.
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 1t.
The page with the wash OF blood
across II seemed to take on a new
viyidness In the stronger light. Under
the stain. the letters of the words
were magnihed before his mind
And as ye would that men should
do to you II seemed To him that
the blood through which they came
heated the words 80 that ghey burned
his eyes.
An hour after daybreak the trail led
him down out of the hills by little
watercourse to the edge OF the desert
Along the sides OF this the chaparrai
grew thlckly. and the spring by which
he halted made 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 over the dull surface
grew the few shrubs that could sur.
vive the heat and dryness,-stunted
unlovely things Of burr. spine, thorn.
or saw-edged leaf,--a!l bent one ways
| by the sand blown against them
bristling cactus and crouching mes
quite 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. phantom.like beau
" of Il stole upon him. torn as he was,
while he looked over the dry. fiat
reaches. II was a good place to die
In. this lifeless waste languishing un-
dsr an angry sun.
AZ 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 OF
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 the morning air.
When he had walked an hour. he
felt he must stop, at least 10 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. II delirium
came now he would probably wander
back 10 the water.
He walked another hour. theE
turned, ana was again disappointed
Il was such little distance: yet he
knew now he must be too far out t.
find his way back when the madness
came. So IL was with . little sigh "
contentment that he lay down to rSst
or 10 take what might come.
He was quite broken. Not since the
Ions gone night on the riverhat across
from NauToo 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 publt'
cam
God be mercIful to me. a sinner"
over and ever he said the words.
chokingly. watering the hot sands
with his tears. When the psroxysm
had pasaed. II left him. weak and
\ prone. alill family crying HE prayer
into tho sand. 20 God. be meryafal d
rae. q ssnress
GRO BE coNrIEUED3