The Tomahawk., 1925-12-31
THE
PASSING OF
JOE MARY
By w. HANSON DURHAM
90 by Short Story Pub. Coz

the very skyline itself seemed to
i. writhe and waver unsteadily In q
maze Of undulating heat beyond
the wide waste of chaparral and scat
tered sage bush which stretched mo-
notonously away to the westward and
the foothills beyond.
The man, sprawling listlessly out
full length in the scant shade of
scraggly cactus, gasped again and
stirred uneasily, then raised himself
painfully to his elbow and gazed with
fixed and CLASSY eyes toward the
eastern horizon, which seemed only to
mock him with its awful sense of
utter desolation and loneliness. With
sigh, he reached gropingly about,
like blind man, until his trembling
fingers finally found and clutched des-
perately at the blistering metal of a
battered tin canteen which he lifted
hopefully for the last, lingering drop,
but only the same empty, hollow CUR
gle greeted his longing lips, and, with
q half-muttered curse, he flung 1t
weakly from him and sunk, face down
again, his fingers working and clutch
ing convulsively in the arid alkali dust
of the desert.
Overhead, like q blotch against the
brazen copper dome Of sky, solitary
bird Of great size swept lower in slow
descending circles, and from out q
cleft in the barren lodges a gaunt-
limbed coyote crept and skulked and
stood for moment in doubtful uncer-
tainty, then barred his cleaning teeth
In diabOlical grin Of anticipation.
= "Water! Water!" gasped the man
incoherently. "For the love Of God
a single drop-in this accursed hell !"
and, at his murmurings, the bird and
the beast drew closer. The bird how
cred lower and croaked dismally-the
beast simply sat back upon his
launches and waited and licked his
white fangs with dry, pink tongue.
The party was not complete feast
could not begin until Death, the third
guest, had come. The man groaned
moaningly, and turned his head wear
fly, and slowly opened his eyes and
looked about and saw them there.
30 God" he pleaded, chokingly.
"Wait-until I'm dead" and he glared
at them with fixed fascination until
his tevered eyes seemed to glow and
burn like globes of molten metal in
their sunken sockets, and then all
reason left him, and with a laughing
oath upon his senseless lips, he fell
back Indifferent, upon the sand, and
the great bird circled closer and the
hungry beast crept nearer and shifted,
then Tapped at the quiet, upturned
face, unafraid.
Joe Mary, the hunted half-breed
renegade, saw from his shelter behind
growing close beside the trail at the
base of the foothills, the circling
buzzard and read its meaning, and
shading his eyes with bronze palm,
he could see the shape of the pros
trate trooper who had relentlessly fol-
lowed him thus far and closely along
the tracklesS trail.
The day before, Joe Mary simply
grunted gutturally when he had, from
long range, shot the soldiers pony
from his ambush behind a sand hill
beside the trail, but when his second
shot pierced the troopers almost emp
ty canteen, he smiled grimly to him.
he knew the end was now nearer, and
accordingly flattened himself out upon
the neutral tinted, sun-baked earth,
to watch and wait.
He saw the persistent ploddings of
his pursuer, and eyed with precious
pleasure his first faltering steps, which
grew, as the day heightened and the
heat strengthened, into erratic wander
ings. He smiled again in triumph as
he saw the trooper reel and fall-then
crawl, helpless, gasping and choking,
into the shade of the cacti, back be-
side the trail.
The heart of Joe Mary was now
jubilant, and rising cautiously to his
feet, he stood for moment and close
ly scanned the fiat eastern horizon.
Grasping his stolen pony firmly by the
nose, he strobe boldly forth back
along the barren trail, led on by the
long accumulated hatred Of his ances-
tors to behold and gloat gloriously at
the last lingering touch Of the ex.
Quisite torture Of thirst.
The trooper gasped once and gulped
greedily at the first touch of tepid
moisture which fell tricklingly upon
his grateful lips from the canteen of
Joe Mary, and with an effort he
opened his eyes and struggled slowly
to his elbow. All animosity was van
quished by the conquering, leveling
thirst, and he reached blindly out to
. seize the tin which held more Of the
precious fluid, but, with a sickening
sneer, the half-breed stepped quickly
back and shook it, splashing and tan
TALKING in its fullness, before his long
ing eyes. and then turned 1t deliber-
ately out upon the absorbing sand.