The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-08-30

HAW@A sI aint denyin' it, Bill answered, as NA 8M he swung up into his burro-saddle What @&A&8M I said was that if intended to find HiZE& water, better be hittin the trail" He
 swore at his dozng steed and, after h3 lazily blinking the alka1i dust from its \ -.EE.s4- thick eye-lashes the burro ambled pa
 tiently on.
 Red walked i1quistve1y about the t1nlhed skeleton He searched around the eactns and the withered quite, kicking up the ground expectantly The desert sand little gray pus then sifted quietly down sXoa~ know" Red said, abruptly T believe them bones back there that old dago or some kind of fordgHer who found the rich mine out here bout Too bad you couldn't "a dug up a chart of his ,ire while yo were looin' him over Bill returned driy, "then could "a stopped this following our noses, to walk straight into fortune"
 If he was that dago, we're mllionaires to-rnorrow" Red cried. excitedly. And we're travelin' right out here in the Eage-taf mountains, where they say he located"
 ~Tve rolled in my blankets millionaire too many rigfrss and woke Up to eat bacon and frijoes Bill declared as dejectedy oosened the dust on his face and neck with dirty red handkerchief
 Personally don't relish fryn' on this red-hot sand" Bill continued, presently.
 Well we won't bake to-night anyway You pitch camp over there. under them iron-wood bushes I'm goin to dust along up the trail and find water.
 We've got just sbasit enough for the burros and two chpfafs over Bill said.
 Well. water the: race-horses tonight We may have te shoot en tomorrow"
 aYou can't find no tank tonight" Bill argued ' You get the shirts and socks out ready to wash.
 
 sheep to-day Where there's sheep there's water" "Ii build up a good fire so you can't miss camp take little drink, Red, before you"
 "Oh, Pm all right. Red turned back to tell him But if don't put in by tomorrow, I guess xoub better plug the burros and put em out of their misery And then drink ID my share of the water Bill 1fn keep you a day longer" The he started his way toward the distant, hills.
 Hours later the warped desert moon slid up over the broken horizon, and looked down querulously at Red, he trudged along the empty cateen ratting from his shoulder-strap The endless stretched before him like sheet of etched glass /the clr1nps of mesquite fantascaIly out of drawing in the pale light. Red stopped and stared up at the great one-sided eye watching ha, and the desoate- the death of the desert clutched with sudden cold fingers about his heart For the first time he was eoseous of quick pain II his throat it seemed If the lining of l1s mouth breaking into a thousand intervening blocks and squares as he had seen paint crack and blister in the sun.
 T wonder" he said in thin, questioning voice that came his as brittle and foreign 'i1 it's come time for beat it the Big Round mp, and" he stopped terrified and broke into queer drunken rnn knowing that close behind him. over taking him, lunged a nameess something whose long hand was reaching forward to close bony fingers upor his shoulder
 Where the Eagle-tail mountains break abr1ptl, from the sand into loosely hung forbiddng line o1 sharp peaks, Red stumbled into deep arroyo. Ii was scant ten feet wide with stark walls rising fal above until they seemed to meet overhead. At the mouth of the canon was water-tank Red rar toward it. His heart misgave him when he saw the barren sand within range of the overflow but hs
 
 walls of the tank he could see the huddIed skeletons of desert creatures that had died this search He Shrank back, and stumbled up the
 Two hours later the cool deser dew began to sparkle on the mesquite, and although Red trembling witt strange hysteria of weakness, he felt refreshed al he drew off his hat and stood with his face upturnee to the sky. @
 Where narrow gulch precipitately ntersected tn, arroyo, Red found another desolae heap of whitenet homes He started to make detour and pass the pitt tu story that had been so mutey thrust home to hin that night. But he turned back It was some human something, anyway out in this vast chaos of death @Old Timer he said, in his alien, dry voice, C think you're goin' to have my comp'ny before long back here and lie down with you bet you died fight in, old scout He followed the main draw of th canon until from sheer exhaustion he fell. As h struck the sand his fingers touched the buckle of old eanteenL half buried by the drifting sand Red la for second, too dazed to realize what his fingers ha automatically closed then he got to his knee and began clawing the canteen from the ground. Tn uflcorked copper flask was shaped like bottle ant was so old that the leather straps had routed away leaving. only the buckles.
 But you're water-tight, at that Red said, hold ig the canteen against the moonlight he searches for leaks.
 He stared up at the steep walls of the canon. Tn eanteen had been buried the left wall so Re scraped footing with his pocketknife and starte up the jagged cliff It terrible climbing Tn juttng rocks tore his and left twisting marks O his naked and bruised hands, until by the yeloV light of the breaking dawn he could see red blotche where he had cutcled. Twice he fell back, and tn second fall made deep cut across his chest But went back stubbornly, scraping out foottold ct5wine fighting to hold his dizzy height As king on wf1s one hand, digging further step wit h free fingers he could feel great drops of sweat an blood coursing down his body At last, somehow shaking with sobs his clothes torn into stiff shred he pulled himself the edge. He fell in whim pering heap.
 He lay for hours motionless, until the round, morr ing sun rode high above him. He turned weakly saaTp pains shooting through the gash his ches When he could force himself to sit up the world abot him rocked crazily in some wild dance. But in tn fantastic whirl he could verdant mesquite an aowering cacti If ke lad not been transported some delr1ous paraGIse, water somewhere Wth1 bis reach. If he could but crawl to it When tn weird dance about him had slowed to sane world (