Evening star., 1928-08-05

ICHAEL C'SHAuOHNESSX
M wasn't handsome. But he had
V gay. reckless blue eyes, full oi
4 Celtic fantasy. At 20. when
knew him, he was q roilickfng,
two-fisted devil. still foot loose. Gesture
and woCd carried the fragrance OF dis
tant lands.
AT the as, of IL he had run away
from the eraSs-roofed hut OF his father
in Connaught to seek his fortune In
Dublin. He had reefed sails on sloops
and harpooned on whalerS. had SHOW
eled coal on tanSers and stood lookout
on iee-bound windjammers. Somewhere
in the South Seas he had married a
native princess. In the Klondike he
had made a fortune, only to lose 1t in
the dance halls and gambling dives OF
Dawson. He had worked In mines near
Quito and had thrown his feet for
feed in BuenoS Aires.
When I met him, his most treasured
possession (Which later became minel
was a creased yellow map Of the Rio
Yaoui in Sonora, Mexico. on the back
of which were Scrihbled with indelible
pencil explicit directions for finding a
cache Of gold.
In those davs when Michael O'Shaugh-
messy and I sat at the table in Kravaz
cellar on the Frisco water 'front.' Mike
promised to show me the world.
Wen 60 prospectin'," said Mike, like
the ramblin' wrecks of poverty we are,
and then we'll hit whatever tran we've
q mind. for Michael O'ShaughneSsys
not the lad to stick around one shanty
fer long. I'm no shenanigan slave 20
some fish-faced woman with sharp
tongue or some putty-faced boss with
no more CUTS than starfiSh."
And Mike hammered on the table and
shouted of fist fights on the wharveS OF
Papeete in Tahiti or of a blizzard upon
the upper Yukon. or q typhoon on the
coast Of ForrnoSa, and of the cache OF
gold we should find in Sonora.
Late 4 May Mike intrusted his
precious map to me. I've a queer
hunch." he told me, that Somethin'S
goin' to happen to little Mike. It's the
same feelin' I was after havln' IN me
chest goin' on Is vars ago. when was
grub-Stakin' out O. Phoenix acrost the
worst bit O. desert yez ever glinEned.
an sure enough, was laid up tour
turrible weeks with the typhoid"
His words foreshadowed fate. TWO
weeks later Mike died there IN Kravaz',
giving 3 toast to Nhe ladies and to the
South Sea princess. He juSt crumpleu
up and went over like q sack OF spuds-
But for me Mixes spirit went march,
ing on. All Spring was haunted by
Mixes wanderlust. Every day scan
ned the yellow map, at night on the
cars. in the Office, often in the midst OF
q column of figures on the adding
machine. was at that time a white
collar slave. but I caafed under the
yoke. longed to gTapple with storm
and with hardshipS and feel the open
trail beneath my feet, so telegraphed
the shipping once, notifying my boss
had quit. A little over q hundred dol
lars IN my pocket. bade kith and kin
good-by and cranked up Fannie, my
secondhand car.
MY first stop was my cousins ranch.
@sA south of San Jose, where my 20
year-old brother, Ralph, was spending
his Summer vacation. / had come to
asv good-by, but he soon convinced
me that a cache of gold La Sonora was
more important than a college educa-
ton: or rather that college education
would prove an easy matter II the cache
was located
We climbed over the. Coast Range
into the San Joaquin Valley, and by the
following afternoon We were bowling
along toward Bakersfield. Earth and
air grew hotter and hotter. The coun-
try became barer and hatter The sun
lowered over the naked, red alkaline
fields and stretched long shadows from
the dismal, black oil-derricks: the heat
blazed and quivered about us uncan-
niiy, like shadow bands before an
eclipse.
Two days later, having provided our
selves with q liberal supply of beans,
dried fruit, timed meat and vegetables,
rice -four, sugar, bacon, fapiack meal,
we sf1uff!ed out Of Bakersfield in the
fine veIvety dawn toward Tehachapi
Pass. where the Sierra Nevada and the
Coast Range converge. We wound ever
up along gashed. red road-cnts over
rolling. stony hills. NANCY with mesquite
and szgebrush; through series Of
sparse. cactus-clad canyons. Here and
there a lone wooden house set on a
slope among eucalyptus or cottonwood
trees pokec out Of the shimmering heat
wares, breaking the nlonotonous empti-
ness. Dusty weeds dropped along the
roadside but even here the thirsty-look-
ing flowers, earthly red and yellow,
we're vivid symbols Of heat and drought.
Past the divide the road curved down
grade. Through a sudden break in the
mountains we stared across bewilder-
ing chaos OF barren crags, lone buttes--
vast sweep Of desoiation stretching
iliilnitably into the haze Of the dim
horizon.
The desertl
Par as the eye could reach, an endless
surge Of sand and aikali and cactus
and splintered bony cragg The stark,
cruel desert vas 70 hold us in It's bond
age for long weeks 10 come
To both Of us At that moment came
q dire premonition CT the hardship and
priVataon we were later t0 face We
parked the car In the shade of dwarf
eds feathery pepper-tree 10 gaze out
across this bofndless void. The heat
from this glowing desolation struck our
blistering faces like a furnace blast
At another turn Of the road the town
Of hoJaye SpraWled below us on the
empty sweep Of the desert floor. To 1t
ran four sets Of cleaning tracks
marked by long lines of telegraph poles
-Molaye meant cool drinks and q few
minutes n shade on the gtore platform
under the wooden roof
Out Of MoJsYe the long road To Bar
Etgg stretched before us~~literaIly a
track, not roAd--two ram Wraagiing
through the endless sands, sands thai
grew deeper every mile. But farther on
spread the dry -beds--nliles OF
hard, level. Elsss-llke surface, perfect
rs macadam. Here the temptation 10
speed seized US. We touched so miles
an hour a loud report A veFtiginous
skiddlng A blow outs
Three thirty The afternoon blazing
around Us The thermometer st ia
degrees! Muscles stiff, bodies sore
from Fannie's iurching and Jolting, We
crswled out 10 mend the tire Rim
and tools were fed-hot from the heat,
blistering cur hands. After much
perBpiring clirsing and false footholds
In the sand, after pumping for a back
breaking eternity. We got the tire re.
paired
Thereafter vie we're wise enough 10
fa4ss