The star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1908-1909, 1908-10-05
PART IL.
THE COUNTRY OF THE SAINTS.
CHAPTER l..
On the Great AlkaIi Plain.

lies an arid and repulSiVe desert,
which for many a long year served as
a barrier against the advance of civili-
cation. From the Sierra Nevada to
Nebraska, and from the Yellowstone
river In the north to the Colorado upon
the south, is a region of desolation and
silence. Nor is nature always in one
mood throughout this grim district. Ii
comprises snow-capped n lofty
mountains, and dark and gloomy VAL
leys. There are swift-fiowing rivers
which dash through Jagged canyons
and there are plains, which
In winter are white with snow, and in
summer are gray with the saline alkaH
dust. They all preserve, however, the
common characteristics of b~arrenness,
inhospitality, and misery.
There are no inhabitants of this land
of despair. A band OF Pawnees or OF
Blackfeet may occasionally traverse 1t
in order to reach other hunglng grounds.
but the hardest of the braves are glad
to lose sight of those awesome plains.
and to find themselves once more upon
their prairies. The coyote skullss
among the scrub, the buzzard flaps
heavily through the air, and the
clumsy grizzly bear numbers through
the dark rayines, and picks up such
s~ustenancc as it car among the rocks
These are the sole jewellers In the will
derness.
In the whole world there can be no
more dreary view than that from the
northern slope of the Sierra Blanco-
AS far as the eye can reach stretches S
the great fiat ~plain-land, all busted
over with patches of alkal, and Inter-
sected by cluinps Of the dwar1sh chap-s
arral bushes. On the extreme verg or
the horizon lie a long chain of noun
tain-peaks, with their rugged submits
fiecked with snow. In this great
stretch of country there Is nc sign Of
life, nor of anything appertaining to
life. There Is no bird in the steel-blue
heaven. no movement upon the dull,
gray ~earth-above all, there is absolute
silence. Listen as one may, there Is
no shadow of q sound In all that
mighty wilderness: nothing but silence
complete and heart-subduing silence.
1t has been said there is nothing APP
pertaining to life upon the broad plain
That is hardly true. Looking down
from the Sierra Blanco, one sees a
pathway traced out across the desert,
which winds away and is lost in the
extreme distance. 1t Is rutted with
wheels and trodden down by the feet
Of many adventures. Here and there
are scattered white objects which
glisten In the sun, and stand ont
against the dull deposit of alkali. Ap-
proach. and examine them! They are
bones; some large and coarse, others
smaller and more delicate. The former
have belonged to oxen. and the latter
to men. For fifteen hundred miles one
may trace this CHASTITY caravan route
by these scattered remains of those
- - II L., H. xr-o 4-ef1A-
Looking down on this very scene.a
there stood upon the 4th of May, 1871, a
solitary traveller. His appearance was
such that he might a been the very
genius or demon of the region. An OBJ
server would have found 1t difficult to
say whether he was nearer to forty or
to sixty. His face was lean and nag
gard, and the brown, parchment-llke
skin was drawn tightly over the pros
jecting bones; his long, brown hair and
beard were all 1ecked and dashed with
white; his eyes were sunken In his
head. and burned with an unnatural
~I,lstre. while the hand which graspea
his rifle was hardly more fieshy thu
that of a skeleton. rs he stood, he
leaned upon his weapon for support,
and yet his tall figure and the massive
framework of his bones suggested a.
wiry and vigorous constitution. His
gaunt face, however. and his clothes.
which hung so baggiiy over his shriv-
eled limbs, proclaimed what 1t was that
gave him that senile and decrepit APP
~pearance. The man was ~dying-dying
from hunger and from thirst.
He had toiled painfully down the ra-
vine, and on to this little elevation, In
the vain hope of seeing some signs OF
water. Now the great salt plain
stretched before his eyes, and the dis
tant belt of avage mountains, without
a sign anywhere of plant or tree. which
might indicate the presence Of mois-
ture. In all that broad landscape there
was no CLEAN of hope. North. and
east. and west he looked with Wild.
questioning eyes. and then he realized.
that his wanderings had come TO an
end, and that there, on that barren
crag. he was about to die.
"Why not here. as well as in a feather
bed, twenty years hence" he muttereo.
as he seated himself in the shelter or
a bowlder.
Before sitting down, he had deposit
ted upon the ground his useless rife,
and also a large bundle tied up In q
gray shawl. which he had carried slung
over his right shoulder. 1t appeared
to be somewhat too heavy for his
strength, for. in lowering 1t, 1t cams
down on the ground with some vio-
lence. Instantly there broke from the
gray parcel a little moaning cry, and
from 1t there protruded a small, scared
face. with very bright brown eyes, ana
two little speckled dimpled fists.
you've hurt me!' said a Childish
voice. reproachfully.
"Have I, thought the man answered.
penitently. ST didn't go for TO do it.
AS he spoke. he unwrapped the gray
shawl and extricated a pretty little girl
of about five years of g whose dainty
shoes and smart pink frock. with It's
little linen apron. all bespoke q moth
er's care. The child was pale and wau.
but her healthy arms and legs showed
that she nae suffered less h her
COMPANION.
How is it now?' he answered, anx-
ious v. for she was. still rubbing the
towsy golden curls which covered the
back of her head.
"Kiss 1t and make it we'll" she said,
with perfect gravity. showing the IN
jured part up to him. That's what
used to do. Where's motherg'
Mothers gone. I guess you'll SEQ