Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1923-01-25

/ less abode of silence and desoIation,
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 a white, winding wash of
sand and gravel, they came upon
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
resIe asked him to wait. Cameron
watched him search in his pash'Sand
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
amazed, then plying, and at last Gu
rious, kept pace with the prospector.
He saw strong tension Of his COM
rade's wrists, as il 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.
''Whatr' calculated Cameron. Had
the man lost his mind?
Then Cameron stood by while his
comrade dug in the same. Three feet
he -four-five, 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
cavlng In and allowed the water to
seep through. While Cameron watched,
the basket filed OF all 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
81 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
I had the same power. I 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-
ert!''
Cameron's comrade smiled-the sec
ond time in all those days.
They entered a region where min
eral abounded, and their march be-
came slower. Generally they took the
course Of a 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
under the Lodges for signs of gold
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
insensibly grown nearer to his COM
rade. He reflected that after a few
| weeks in the desert he had always
become different man. 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
slow stir stealing warmer along his
veins and at the premonitfon that per-
| baps 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 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.
'sPardner, what drives you into the
desert? Do you come to forget?'
''Yes.''
"Ahr' 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 first she entered his life
"a golden-haired girl, blue-eyed,
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 to