Arizona republican., 1922-01-29
A CHILD OF SACRIFICE
A Story of the Drought Lands

, eager tugging little fingers. while his
! heart sang joyously the old, old
! rythm of Thou and 1, and this our
/ little one" Home and love blotted
out the dread and toll OF the day as
| the blessed night blotted out the saw
! age heat and torture of the thirst
racked land, and in the brief peace
man and earth hoped together.
Then one evening he came up the
| footpath along the dry ditch, and no
! cooling welcome met him, and no flut-
| tering eager hands were stretched
| out to clasp his own. She sat with
| detected droop in the patch OF shade,
! and on her lap the baby lay pale and
still as a. whitening blossom.
There were yet few dollars saved
! from the beginning. and with the
scant hoard they went to the doctor.
| He was a busy man and he was hav-
| ing dozen such cases week, yet
| he meant to speak kindly.
"It's no use; medicine won't help.
/ He hasn't vitality to bear this heat.
| Take him to the mountains--tomor-
row; it's the only chance"
| That very night, with her hands
and heart trembling with fear. she
! packed their scanty goods: such
comforts as they could get for the
baby; a little food for themselves:
and he flung the harness on the
| plow team and silently hitehed them
to the old farm wagon. She climbed
to the high seat and held down her
arms for shawl wrapped bundle;
| then, silent still, he got up beside her.
and the wagon bumped and jostled
over the dry bitches out in the road.
The gray, lone thread of wagon
! road that pitches and rolls up the
| bouIder-soWn back Of Bumblebee
| Hill lay baking in the noon sun. 1t
! swan in silvery heat waves and lit
tie tufts of scorched grass quiyered
! and shimmered like wavering reflec-
tions in stagnant water. The air was
| dead as an oven draft and the rocks
/ under foot struck hot through hoof
and shoe leather. Just where the
| last hundred yards below the Divide
breaks into wilder confusion, huge
| and angry as a storm-dflven sea
! turned to granite. a wagon was
! stalled, one front wheel caught
| against a great boulder. The horses
! hung against the neck yoke spent ana
/ sullen. 1t was nothing to them that
smooth going lay beyond those rag
eed rocks. Painfully they had
| dragged the jolting wagon hour by
hour, day and night. hundred
weary miles from the desert below,
! They had bent wearily but well to
this last effort, and the very earth
seemed to rise up and hold them
| back.
A man stood beside the wagon, the
lines hanging listlessly in his hands
| as he leaned against the wheel. Be-
1 hind the wagon on a boulder beside
/ the trail a woman sat with something
/ in an old brown shawl on her laD.
Her head was bowed in her harN =
/ but her knees kept slow, rocking
!. motion.
1 deep breathing of the painting horses
the pat. pat, pat, OF the sweat as i
ran from their dripping bodies and
! shattered on the smooth Of the road,
! and now and then the crunch OF
| stone as the man shifted his position
or q horse moved his weight from one
! foot to another.
rock squirrel woke the man from his
/ Iethargy. he Strengthened up, tight
] eninp the lines. The horses turned
| their heads in mute inquiry: he
| clucked to them, shook the whip. and
one. the old friend Of many a hard
| turned furrow, dug into the collar.
straining inch by inch to raise the
load. Slowly, slowly, till Just as his
weaker mate was ready his strength
failed and he swung back
The man shouted broken cries or
announcement lashing the team
with his whip, till up. UP the wheels
| crawled again-almost over. one
! breath, one pull, six inches ahead was
safety; but the weaker failed ana
the brave old leader was dragged 70
his knees on the rocky road. he
struggled for the lost ground, but a
fur snapped. and with despairing
cry from the man the brake grated
harshly on the wheels and the wagon
settled back into it's old place.
The woman had lifted her head as
the wagon went up; now she dropped
| II with a low cry and buried her face
in the shawl. The man threw the
lines on the ground and sat down on
d boulder. The horses stood in the
hot sun, hollow and gaunt with
heaving sides and quivering flenlSs..
For long, long time neither the
man nor the woman nor the horses
moved; once the folds OF the ola
shawl stirred family as with feeble
motion from within.
At last the horses began to reacn
out and crop the blades Of scorched
grass beside the trail, and the leader
lifted his head, shifting toward a
hand breadth Of white cloud rising in
the north. The man noticed II; he
rose and went to his team, rubbing
his hands kindly over their lean
necks. Presently he mended the
broken tug with scrap of baling
wire and reset the collar and harness.
Then going to the woman's side he
lifted a corner OF the shawl and
stood long time looking with bowed
head. The lips were set as iron when
he returned to the horses and took
up the lines. Cautiously, firmly, ne
gathered them for the start. STEADY
boys! Steady" His voice was hardly
whisper, yet they WINGED and