Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1922-11-22
Comrades in Dead
Valley
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20. 1922, Western Newspaper un!on.)
By CHARLES E. BAXTER

wild places during his sixty years OF
life, but Dead Valley seemed likely
to be the last Of them.
For five days he had set his face
steadily westward over the burning,
barren alkali lands, toward the myth
ical mine, in spite of warnings that
no man had ever crossed Dead Valley
from end to end. And now Mike saw
his own end approaching.
He had trusted to luck and to his.
own dogged will power. The will
burned as unquenchably as ever, but
the luck was out-dead. out. 1t was
twenty-four hours since he had tasted
water.
Twenty-four hours under a Dead
Valley sun! If he could go on twenty
four hours longer, he could reach
safety. But the blood In his veins had
turned to sirup and cinders, and he
had staggered to the thin shade of a
cactus and fallen there.
81 guess this Is all, Bill" he said.
The great wolfhound stood beside
him, painting, It's tongue hanging from
It's mouth. In its appealing eyes old
Mike, too, read the presentiment of
death.
Mike stretched out his hand. ave
been good friends these four or FIVE
years, Bill" he said. "It's kinder
hard"
Suddenly thought flashed through
his mind that made him vince with
shame and humiliation. But it re-
turned unbidden.
~ AS If sensing it, the great hound
Ieaped back with a whine and laid its
ears forward.
). Old Mike had one bullet left in his
revolver. He had planned that for
himself, in case he failed to win out
: in his fight with Dead Valley. Now
another use for it had occurred to
him.
After all, If death for both was GER
tain, was it not more mercifll to end
the hounds sufferings quickly-and to
restore his own life by the sacrifice
of the animals?
In lonely places thoughts become al
most as things. AS Old Mike drew the
loaded revolver from its holster and
called the animal, Bill snarled and be-
gan running in circles round and
round him, just out of revolver range
He might suddenly have gone mad,
for he was swapping and snarling, and
showing marked inclination to dash
in upon his master.
"He's gone mad" thought Mike.
"That fixes that" He drew aim and
fired.
A few hairs few from the. hounds
tail. Mike Maloney had missed. And,
like an. arrow, Bill darted at his
/. throat, .aa,
Mike was just in time to spring to
his feet and greet the animal with
vicious Kick that hurled it, snarling
and whimpering, dozen feet away.
And then Mike knew that the same
awful thought that had come to him
had come to the dog too. And like
primitive man he had to face his ca
nine foe unarmed, trusting in his wits
against its superior speed and the
grip of its fangs.
Hours must have gone by, while the
two circled about each other, watch
ing each other. Mike still had his
jackknife. If it came to close quar-
ters he felt confident that he could
plunge through the shaggy hide into
the heart-provided his strength held
out. But already the first coma OF
unconsciousness was overcoming him,
and the brilliant alkali desert swan
before his eyes.
The dog seemed to have become a
pack of six. ever circling round and
round him, sometimes uttering a
feeble yelp from the parched throat,
out Of which the tongue, swollen to
a frightful size, protruded.
Mike lay down at last, his jack
knife in his hand, waiting. Slowly
the hound came nearer Its bloodshot
eyes cleaned wickedly. 1t showed an
almost human cunning in the way 1t
approached, fawning, whimpering-
Mike thrust. He missed. The hound
leaped back with yelp. But it had
been almost too cunning for him. Mike
had been half unconscious without
knowing it. Another instant and those
fangs would have been in his throat.
The hound was lying in the distance,
painting, looking at him. Mike stole
cautiously toward it. He must make
an end before Inconsistencies super
vened. Then he would be refreshed,
to take up his terrible journey. He
walked with hand outstretched.
"Good ole Bill" he said thickly.
The animal watched him; then, see
Ing the knife, it suddenly turned tail
and disappeared into the distance.
And Mike fell prone and uncon-
scious upon the alkali.
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