The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1909-08-31
by H. s. CANFIEIO.
Auroea o. MAD % nm VEST ETC

n ECAUSE he was attached to the
n Smithsonian ips,itu,ion and had
formed q part of several Of its xcien-
tifc expeditions. Mr. Francis Hope.
aged 30 Ind a bachelor. was inclined I 0
believe that be knew = good deal about
many things. He did not know. how
ever. that unrevealed iron deposits wi.
sometimes affect the needle ef COM
pass. or that. even upon mos, barren
land. rocks and struggling grasses and
such things are as sure guides 20 a
p,Ainsman Is a chart Therefore. when
his party had been five days in Deaths
valley. Mr.. Francis Hope left camp
water bottle and in the afternoon
found himself lost. Around him on
every hand rose rock-ribbed Lodges.
dark red in hue Under his feet was
sand. mOisture.esx and sometimes
shining with saline particles Strapped
to his back was a ,eathern bottle. pref
ty nearly emptied- \ few PAGES away
was a mule. with its long ears down be-
tween its rascible temper which helps
foot bal. player. but is fatal 10 pro-
found ma I he matics- He walked TO the
spraddlinQ mule and kicked ii in the
belly. The animal topped over On it's
side and died. He looked around for
the fve hundredih time. TO be me; with
the same view of red rock. cloudy sky
sand and solitary spanish dagger"
growing here and there. sharp-spined.
dry. murderous. fit emblem of the
country. He said Damn" and threw
his compass away This helped him
little. because he then depended solely
upon himself. Then he shook up the
water bottle. heard the faint gurgle in
side of il. set his teeth. fixed his eye on
distant point and walked. He cid not
know where nor in what direction he
was going. hut at least he was go
ing in a straight line That was some
comfort And he walked until swift
dark fell Then the exhaustion which
comes from prolonged exer,ion in an
ca me upon him and he rolled and tossed
in restless sleep. He walked before day.
light and wrestled hard with himself
to keep from draining the last drop
of water. and he won AT ten O'Clock
next morning he estimated that he was
20 niles from the dead mule. Nature
would not be denied longer. He raised
the bottle to his lips A quarter pint
of wsrmish leathery water went down
his throat. He swore and threw the
bottle from him. set his eve upon a dis
tant pcint and went on dogged-y.
At four o'clock that afternoon the
lips of Mr.. Hope were black and cracked
and sand had got into the cracks. His
tongue. swollen and blackish also pro-
trudsd a half Inch between his teeth.
His face was 4 0rayish yellow and the
skin was in folds. He stopped like an
Old man and often stumbled. Setting
his eye upon fixed point. he 6iscov-
cred a strong tendency 10 walk in
half circle. Sand was under his finger
nails. for he had fal.en often. and his
feet were on fire. lie mumbled TO him
esf:
DARWIN was right-man's same as
jelly fsh-jelsyfsh got no backbone
I've got no ba OK bone-A.l hei, holds no
tormen, like this-give me 10 drink to-
night one single drop of Lethe's IA bed
sup-must have been cool. cool. cool
and sparkling. that stream of Lethe.
else why should the Greeks pirate about
it to a dying Mans dying man-thai
ich;hyosauri and peliosauri lived in
Wa;er-in warer-the mammoth came
down to 0rink-to drink-curSe al,
ammoths-,hrough breast and bone
drove the stone and slew him upon
the brink-upou the brink TO drink
i, was his blood Idrank-gushiugb blood
and it seemed cool. too"
The trained scientific mind of Mr..
Hope was wabbly. He sat down upou
. pile of red pc bb,ex and played with
them absent,y- He had dim disor6srsd
memories of his childhood. mixed up
with babbiing brooks. He thought of
"iacks,ones" and tried to catch sew
eral of the pebbles on the back of his
core wi,hered hand Then in the gar
ing sun he fell straight backward AID
hurt his head. 1t seemed 10 him tina
he rose Immediately. but really he was
supine for half an hour. He sat uE
finally. and as he came back to sitting
posture. still mutteriug necessarily. a
wild cry rang across the desert. TWAS
inar,icu.ate, but there WAS despair in