Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-07-23

men behind him who could make short
work of you. but do for him / found
the Indian very i'll. but treated him and
he recovered and became my friend
forever afterward. l loved the Indians
and l believe they knew il, for al
though there were times innumerable
on on,, my exploring expeditions when they
could have shot me. they never did 1t.
They appreciate being docVored. l
remember an old squaw who came to
me with tumor. 1 said: What do
you want me to dor She replied sim
ply: When? I pointed to the sky. in
dicating noon. She returned at the APP
pointed time and declined to take an
anesthetic. She displayed wonderful
courage throughout the operation. Ask
ing what it would cost her, / told her
to do some service to friends following
after me
lat that time the Indian named Kid
and his band of renegade Apaches
were terrorizing the region. Thou
this man. but when he came within my
power / could not take his life. We
were hunting him and l was hidden be-
hind a rock. i heard him coming on
horseback and rested my rifle on the
rock to shoot. He halted not far from
me. threw OF his big Mexican saddle
and then took OFF the blanket, refoIded
1t and put 1t on again. but l could not
shoot. l did not want the blood money
and i could not get il out of my mind
that somewhere he had wife and a
child; / would not be responsible for
their suffering.
Il spent ten years on every part of
that borderland, and l know the Mex
leans and l know their country. I
tasted of its best and 1 have suffered
the worst that man can suffer and
live. I have been so hungry that l have
had to kill and eat the animals and use
the fruits of the wilds to sustain life
and I would have died of thirst in the
burning and choking sands had l not
drunk the water from the cactus. There
is no use in mans giving up and dy-
ing Of starvation or of thirst in Mex
leo IL he will but take time to inform
himself as to what is food and what is
drink in that arid land. where the
scarcity Of water is the greatest DIFF
nculty to be met.
supplying the working parties with wa
ter on the deserts was the problem of the
survey. in comparison with which all 9TH
er obstacles sank into insienificance.
To the traveller on the desert the all
important questions are: The distance to
the next water. the nature OF the supply
and the character OF the intervening
roads The quantity of water consumed
by men and animals is very large, aver
aging at one period of the survey about
seven quarts a day for each of the men
and twenty gallons for the animals.
There are far more unpalatable
dishes than can be made from one of the
great eighteen to twenty -four inch liz
ards which abound throughout the border
region. and more than once / have found
fat rattlesnake broiled most tooth
some morsel In the dryest desert places
grow the beehive water filed cactus
while the conical. hedgehog variety,
stripped Of ribs and spines and squeezed,
will produce half a glass Of liquid. not
pleasant. but Quenching. No man. know
Ing the nature of the products at his
hand. need lie down and die in the desert
for want OF food or drink
Next to the lack Of water. the glare
OF the hot sands, especially in June. is a
painful problem. have been so pressed
that with no cave In sight for my horse