Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1923-03-30


remaining four shells to drop the sec
ond ram, and By the time he had re-
loaded the others were out Of range
The Yaqui's method Of hunting was
sure and deadly and saving in energy,
but Gale never would try 1t again. He
chose to stalk the game. After being
hunted a few times and shot at, the
sheep became exceedingly difficult to
approach He failed often The stalk
called forth all that was In him OF
endurance, cunning, speed And Ike
a shadow the faithful Yaqui tried
ever to keep at his heels.
One morning Yaqui spied flock Of
sheep far under the curved, broken
rim Of the main crater. Then began
the stalk. Hiding. slipping, creeping.
crawling, Gale closed In upon his
quarry until the long rifle grew like
stone in his grip, and the whipping
"spang" ripped the silence, and the
strange echo doomed deep In the era
ter, and rolled around, as II In hollow
mockery at the hopelessness Of escape.
He waited beside his quarry, and
breathed deep, and swept the long
slopes with searching eyes Of habit
When Yaqui came up they set about
the hardest task of all. to pack the
best Of that heavy sheep down miles
Of steep, ragged, choya-covered lava
The torrid summer heat came i'm
perceptibly, or 1t could never have
been borne by white men. 1t changed
the lives Of the fug1tiveA, making
them partly nocturnal In habit The
nights had the balmy GOODNESS Of
spring, and would have been delight
full for sleep, but that would have
made the blazing days uncomfortable.
AS Ladd had said, one Of their
greatest problems was the passing Of
time. The nights were interminably
long, but they had to be passed In
work or play or dream-anything ex-
cept sleep. That was Ladd's most In
flexible command He gave no rea-
son. But not improbably the ranger
thought that the terrific heat Of the
day spent In slumber lessened a wear
and strain, II not real danger Of
madness.
Accordingly, at first the occupations
Of this little group were many and
various. They worked II they had
something to do, or could invent a
pretext. They told and retold stories
until all were wearisome. They sang
songs Mercedes taught Spanish.
They played every game they knew.
They invented others that were so
trivial children would scarcely have
been interested, and these they played
seriously. In a word, with intelli-
gence and passion, with all that was
civilized and human, they fought the
ever-infringing loneliness the savage |
solitude Of their environment.
Gale believed himself the keenest |
of the party, the one who thought |
most, and he watched the effect of the |
desert upon his companions. For |
hours, 1t seemed, Ladd would bend |
over his checkerboard and never
make a move. It mattered not now
whether or not he had partner. Jim
Lash, the calmest, coolest, most nom
chalant best-humored westerner Gale
had ever met, had by slow degrees
lost that cheerful character which
would have been Of such infinite good
to his companions, and always he sat
brooding, silently brooding. Jim had
no ties, few memories, and the desert
was claiming him.
Thorne and Mercedes, however,
we're living, wonderful proof that spir-
4, mind, and heart were free-free to
soar In scorn Of the colossal barren
hess and silence and space Of that
terrible hedging prison Of lava. They
we're young; they loved; they were
together; and the oasis was almost a
paradise. Thorne and Mercedes had
forgotten the outside world. II they
lad been existing on the burned-out
1esolate moon they could hardly have
been In a harsher, grimmer, lonelier
pot than this red-walled arroyo.
Although the Yaqul was as bis
shadow, Gale reached a point when
10 seemed to wander alone at twi-
light, In the night. at dawn. At night
lie had formed habit of climbing up
nc idfh eiOpc as ldI HIS the biuOOtN |
rail extended, and there on a promon-
DRY he paced TO and fro, and watched
he stars, and sat stone-still for hours
cooking down at the vast void with rs
moving, changing shadows. He came
I length TO realize that the desert
vas a teacher. He did not realize all
hat he had learned, but he was a
ifferent man. And when he decided
pom that, be was not thinking OF the
low, sure call 20 the primal Instincts
4 mani he was thinking that the
esert, as much as he had experienced
nd no more, would absolutely over.
am the whole scale Of . mans val
es, break odd habits, form new ones,
lmaks him, More ~ desert expert
nee Gale believed would be- TOO much .
~ lntellecf The desert dld nof breed
Ylll9ee mep,
Thus ne Nights PASSED. enalossy n
ma IUlfI lIUIa g4IIlru Tn fIo .II US II