The Holbrook news., 1910-05-06

me, for later in the night he came and
 walked me with the suggestion that we
 be progressing, as we could make bet
 ter time in the cool of the night.
 On the morning of the fourth day
 we found that Darrington's horse had
 perished in the night. He stood close
 by, looking at it steadily for a few minutes, and then turned to me. From
 his expression I was certain that he
 expected that 1 would now ride away 1 and leave him to his fate, for he was
 smiling up at me as though to wish me an enjoyable journey to the city and
 that I might find all the folks well.
 This was the way Darlington met the prospect of walking out of a hell that
 he could not evade on horseback. climbed into the saddle and drove the spurs into the horses Hanks. A weak ness came over me; a terrible one
 which I must flee from. This man was too great for the hate that was
 within me. He seemed to be getting the better of me and all through my admiration.
 After riding for the period of an hour or more I pulled my horse up and returned. There was no satisfaction in allowing this man to stay behind I began to have my doubts, indeed, had been for the last hour I had been thinking and my whole view was changed. It seemed a pity to let man like Darlington die, he who could smile in the face of death which was | confronting him with certainty. If he had shown the white feather, and had cursed, but he was game to the end, and his smile I could not forget; it haunted me.
 I was extremely anxious now to save the man I had set out to destroy. l retraced my steps in as great haste and speed as I could compel my horse to assume I was in as great a hurry | to locate him as I had been to leave him. I even had fears, sickening fears that 1 might not be able to find him. | It was a chance in a hundred, nay, in | a thousand, that I should, but I sue ceeded and in couple of hours more discerned a tiny figure of black nov | ing upon the white. When I caught up w:ch him he was toiling doggedly along. feet shutning and head down. Yet when 1 overlook him he smiled his welcome.
 Tt was impossible to do it, Daring ton," I said You win. I guess we'll stick it out together"
 He was actually unwilling to share the horse with me. That isn't fair 5,,,4 N o1r was mine and I'm willing to fight my way out alone. You stand chance of finding your way out; together your chance is severed in two.'
 He proceeded to take his course again, but 1 covered him with my re- volver and called him to stop. He smiled at me over the weapon, pleas antIy.
 "Oh, that has no terrors for me now" he said. That, you know, would be rather a favor compared to this" and he waved his hand in the direction where earth and sky meet
 Look here, Darlington. you fail to get my idea,' I said. Either we get out or not together, as the case may be- If you refuse to ride, I'm going to walk
 The expression of his face instantly 1 changed. Coming up close, he looked | at me for what seemed a very long time Then, without word, he climb ed up behind me, and we started once more our painless ramble upon the chartless and sandy sea.
 The horse lasted a day and one-half i longer. When we began our wander | ing on foot we were unable to speak | above a whisper, and without water | The remainder of our journey is hay Somehow we kept with one another. | It is all a blur to me, nightmare of \ fire, waking in spasms to discover Dar- rington falling at my side. Then there is a faint recollection of finding him on the ground and my inability to arouse him, of dragging him, then of crawling swooning ard crawling again. with a bloody mist before my eyes, then, blank.
 shepherd watching his flock near the fringe of desert espied two tiny objects upon its pale face which ap- peared to him very slowly moving. Be ing of an inquisitive nature, he inves- tigated, and it is to him we are indebt- ed for our lives.
 That was twenty-one years ago, and Darlington and I have reen going it with each other ever since. In those twenty years he has not let slip by enc summer spending a month or two on my farm at the lake. I have taught all his kids to ride and rope andtether- He still has that smile, which seemed to change astonishingly since our ram bling on sandy seas am not ashamed to admit that I was in error. The anti thetical nature of our beings which in l spired hate was one caused through z ignorance and misunderstanding which is all as old as the hills We have !