Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1922-11-17

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 pack and
bring forth what appeared to he a
small. forked branch of a peach tree.
He grasped the prongs of the 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
amazed. then plying, and at last GU
T;ous. kept pace with the prospector.
He saw a strong tension of his COM
rade's wrists. as if he was holding
hard against a 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.
"What!" calculated Cameron. Had
the man lost his mind?
Then Cameron stood by while his
comrade dug in the sano. Three feet
he dug-four-ive, and the sand
grew dark, then moist. At six feet
water began to seep through.
"Get the little basket in my pack"
he said.
Cameron complied, and saw his
comrade drop the basket into the deep
hole. where it kept the sides from
caving in and allowed the water to
seep through. While Cameron watched,
the basket filled. OF all tie strange
incidents of his desert career this was
the strangest. Curiously he picked up
the peach branch and held it as he
had seen it held. The thing. how
ever, was dead in his hands.
"I see you haven't got it, remarked
his comrade. Few men have. Back
in Illinois an old German used TO do
that to locate wells. He showed me
] had the same power. l can't ex-
plain. The old German ] spoke of
made money travelling round with his
peach fork"
"What a gift for a man in the des-
ertl"
Cameron's comrade smiled-the sec
ond time In all those days.
They entered a region where min
erar %abounded. and their march be-
came slower. Generally they took the
course of q wash. one on each side,
and let the 'burros travel leIsurely
along nipping at the bleached blades
of scant grass, or at sage or cactus,
while they searched In the canons and
r.-1.- A. I1Ivoc fOr Cf1@,C ~ nnld
Each succeeding day and night
Cameron felt himself more and more
drawn to this strange man. He found
that after hours of burning toll he had
i~nsensibly grown nearer to his COM
rade. He reflected thar after a few
weeks In the desert he had always
become a different nan In civiliza-
ton, in the rough mining camps, he
had been a prey to unrest and gloom.
But once down on the great billowing
sweep Of this lonely world. he could
look into his unquiet soul without BIT
terneSs. So now he did not marvel at
a slow stir stealing warmer along his
veins. and at the %premonition that per-
haps he and this man, alone on the
desert. driven there by life's mysteri-
Gus and remorseless motive, were to
see each other through Gods eyes.
One night they were encamped at
the head Of a canon. The day had
been exceedingly hot, and long after
shutdown the radiations Of heat from
the rocks persisted. Cameron watched
his comrade. and yielded TO interest
he had not heretofore voiced.
"Pardner. what drives you into the
desert? Do you come to forgetT'
Eyes"
"Ah!' softly exclaimed Cameron.
Always he seemed to have known that.
He said no more, but grew acutely
conscious Of the pang in his own
breast, Of the fire in his heart. the
strife and torment Of his passion |
driven soul He had come into the
desert to remember a woman. She
appeared TO him then as she had
looked when hrst she entered his life
"a golden-haired girl, blueeyed.
white skinned, red-lipped. tall and
slender and beautiful. He had never
forgotten. and an old. sickening re-
morse knocked at his heart. He rose
and climbed out of the canon and 70
the top Of the mesa, where he paced
to and fro and looked down into the
weird and mystic shadows, like the
darkness Of his passion, and farther
on down the moon track and the gilt
tering stretches hat vanished In the
cold blue horizon. In that endless,
silent hall OF desert there was q
spirit; and Cameron felt lowering
near him what he imagined 10 be
phantoms Of peace.
He returned 10 camp and sought
his comrade.
II reckon we're two of a kind" he
said. ut was a woman who drove me
into the desert. But l come to re-
member. The deserts the only place
l can do that"
"Was she your wife?" asked the
elder man.
mo"