Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1922-12-15

Il DTedklHS OF reserve, nOllccdDle IN tn
| elder man. almost irnperceptibly grad
| ual In Cameron. And so, as Cameron
| began to respond to the influence o.
a desert less lonely than habitual, he
began to take keener note Of his com
rade, and found him different from
any other he had ever encountered IN
the wilderness. This man never
grumbled at the heat the glare, the
driving sand, the sour water the
scant fare. He was tireless, patient.
brooding.
Camer0ns awakened interest brought
home to Lin the realization that for
years he had stunned companionship.
In those years only three men had
wandered into the desert with him.
and these had left their bones TO
bleach in the shifting sands. Cameron
had not cared to know their secrets.
But the more he studied this latest
comrade the more he began to SUSPECT
that he might have missed something
In thesothers. In his own driving pas
sion to take his secret into the limit
less abode Of silence and desolation
where he could be alone with it. he
had forgotten that life dealt shocks to
other men. Somehow this silent COM
rade reminded him.
One afternoon late, after they had
toiled up white, winding wash of
sand and gravel, they came upon a
dry waterhole Cameron dug deep
Into the sand, but without avail. He
was turning TO retrace weary steps
back to the last water when his COM
rade asked him TO wait. Cameron |
watched him search in his pa ~k,0and
bring forth what appeared to be a
small, forked branch of a peach tree.
He grasped the prongs of e fork
and held them before him with the
end standing straight out, and then
he began to walk along the stream
bed. Cameron, at first amused, then
then plying. and Mt last Gu
rious, kept pace with the prospector.
He saw strong tension of his com
rade's wrists, as if he was lolding
hard against considerable force. The
end of the peach branch began TO
culver and turn, kept turning, and at
length pointed to the ground.
dig here said the prospector.
"WhatW calculated Cameron. Had
the man lost his mind? /
Then Cameron stood by while his l
'omrade dug in the sana. Three feet I
he dug-fOur-five. and the sand fl
rev dark, then moist At six feet d
water began TO seep through. p
Get the little basket in my pack" W
lie said
Cameron complied, and saw his s;
omiade drop the basket into the deep h
ole, where it kept the sides from "a
avlng In and al owed the water TO v.
eep through. While Cameron watched.
he basket filed. OF all t e strange
lcidents Of his desert career this was G.
ne strangest. Curiously re picked up
ne peach branch and held it as he
ad seen 1t held. The thing, how
YER was dead in his hands. ii,
Il see YOU haven't got It," remarked m
Is comrade. Few men have. Back tn
Illinois an old German used TO do th
int to locate wells. He showed me of
had the same power. can't ex-
ain. The old German l spoke Of m;
ade money travelling round with his Iy
zach fork" ba
What gift for man in the des- no
tw ho
Cameron's comrade smiled-the sec in:
ID time in all those days. co
They entered q region where min
NJ abounded. and their march be- til,
me slower. Generally they took the thi
urse of wash. one on each side ov,
d let the bnrros travel leisurelv
ing nipping ut the bleached blades fer
scant grass, or Mt sage or Cactus
lille they searched in the canons and
der the lodges for signs Of gold. On
Zach succeeding day and night bel
meron felt himself more and moro mil
'wn TO this strange man. He found ho,
Il after hours Of burning toll he had bee
ensibly grown nearer 10 his com Of
Ie. He reflected that after fe,y noe
eks In the desert he had always how
ONE a different man. In cIyilIza. wa.
T. IN the rough mining camps. he lon,
been prey 70 unrest and gloom nia,
once doNn on the great blllowlng sile
'ep OF this lonely world he coulS hin,
into his unquiet soul without BIZ. chm
less. 80 now he did not marvel NJ The,
low sir sfeniing warmer along his was
~ ana az tbe piem0nltion that ner. n ,
> he and This man. alone on the nan
'if, driven there by llfe's mysterl. mn,
uiid remorseless motive, were 40 fou,
en'h Other through Gods eyes 3,
pe night they were eucamned IA MN
mead ~ q canon The aay had van
e>e'edlufly hot and long afier aeo,
i7Nh ono rndiailons ~ heal nom ne
fp'hs persisted cameron watched ann
fplulaae and yielded 40 lnieresl mi,
l1' NOT h'feioforo Voiced. hi h
'p,@nei What dliYef yoa lnlo ihe nst
"f np }op como a. iorselY Aim
,lo aoal
~ Nnl} Haalmoi Camaran ana
llf pa s'elNoa Az lnlo tu0an mad N. II
EIII Un IIYI. I.I