The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1916-01-06

d, THURSDAY. JAN. s,
7-Trf T-T rT =:
1saFs4 AlsaGaasssw,A aDesias 49,
Inst ct Into the waters and spea
sWiftly-M too swiftly. BarsArmsd
6gurss rowsd with Tho regularity ana
precision OF = machine. Oars flashed
beautifully IN the sun. Then, strange
u the Man fslt every nerve a-tingls.
Vaguely he knew he must nght-nght
hard. He felt the sun strike his bare
arms and shoulders. The desert sun.
No-the-the-why the sun that
shone on the Hudson-of course. He
painted. He strained every muscle.
Suddenly he heard . voice. It was
counting-sharply. decisivelyl Zone.
two! one. two! Hit or up! Take the
stroke! One. two!"
The Man bent to his task-his q
few. He heard the gurgle Of the wat
or. He must whitley must win. His
varsity-hiS crew. They were gain.
ing-gaining. Out of the corner Of his
eye he saw the other boat: two fash
Ing oars. then three; then four; then
only three again. The Man gasped.
How hot It was-how dry his throat
He wanted 80 to drink-dink-of
that cool, blue water. But he couldn't
Tho couldn't. He must row-they
must win. Suddenly they forged
ahead. He heard q crash and a rend-
ing Of wood. He saw the other boat
strike something-go to pieces on a
rock-a sandbar-a ledge. The river
sank into the dust and the green died
out of the hills.
A hard, dry sob shook the Man. He
staggered out into the binding light
fell-and staggered on. Then crawled
painfully owe the sorched sands.
Trembling frightfu)'y he drew himself
on. He clawed at a pole-a telegraph
pole. Weakly he held himself In an
upright position. He babbled thickly.
"Love-lift-a Man-no gutter
fight" then shook of his delirium and
tried to think.
WIRES" he muttered, "help-save
them"
He looked up at the threads Of steel
above him. They were very low
just out of reach. He stretched up
an arm, then fell heavily and rolled in
to the dry riverbed. And night came
and the stars.
A coyote circled warily around the
inert body. It approached, shifted
uneasily, and scratched in the baked
sand; then dug quickly downtown.
The Man stirred. The coyote fed
and howled dolefully in the moonlight.
The Man, moaning miserably, dragged
himself on.
mo Observation-Disclosures" he whis-
pered, then pitched forward in sudden
weakness. His head hung over the
hole where the coyote had scratched.
His neck muscles relaxed. His scared
lips touched the sand. It was moist
and cool! Desperate, despairing en-
ergy came upon him. He clawed the
wet earth into his mouth, he sucked
every little, life-giving drop from the
gritty alkaline soil-then clawed again
and groveled, his face in the mud. By
and by reason returned and strength.
The Man scooped out handfuls of the
saturated sand and drank greedily-
but sanely.
He arose. With infinite, patient,
heart-breaking toll he built a pyramid
of stones. From it's top he could just
touch the wires. Another stone and
another. He mounted his pile labor
iously, swayed dizzily and clutched
-blindly, wildly-at the steel line
above him. His fingers closed convul-
sively. Then he lurched forward
and the wire snapped of short. Min
utes passed-hours-ages. The Man
lay exhausted, breathing weakly. An
other struggle and he regained his
feet. He mounted the pyramid. The
other wire snapped. And he fell and
lay very still.
The government mule teams left
the fort. Four troopers scanned the
telegraph line carefully. FIFTY, sixty.
seventy miles, and they found the
break-and the Man. Cool, wet sand
was in his hands and he tottered to
the shed %unseeing. The Things scarce
~ breathed. He pressed the sand to
their lips. Carefully, methodically he
passed from one to the next. Then
sought the riverbed again to bring
more sand. The troopers stopped him,
gently.
NO." he murmured. He reeled. mo
must save them-no Quitter-hght-
win" And he sank Imply into their
arms.
Legal Residence.
At q London police court an indi-
vidual who had been affected by the
Salvation Army was brought up,
charged with being a lunatic wander
ing at large. The magistrate gen.
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