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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Times, 1911-03-16, Page 7tot•Aoi►Vtttt►At*t►ANt►tt•t!t•1►tatltttl►t4rt4Ntt4trNNtN i !:iund:U A 'Romance of Arizona N•oveiized prom Edmond Day's Melodrama By JOHN MURRAY and MiLLS MILLER Copyright, 1000, by G. W. Aflttngham Co. N**sM►tMN***,1p•tONt•4l44t►40iNNNN•444•t•N•w ,i:u•k could scarcely control his voice. 'rho sight of I:t he's . suffering un-. netunet1 !dim. "My father, tool" walled Lebo. "TTe thought only of your happi• uess," Jac!, t'xelafined. "What of my promise—my promise to marry Dit•k? Whore is he?" moaned the glr1, "lie's gone back to the desert. He 15 gone out of our lives forever," cried Jack, facing ber, with arms outstretch- ed. "And you let hint go away in the belief that I knew him to be living?" accused the wife. "What will not a man do to keep the woman he loves? Dick Lane has gone from our lives. He will never re- turn," argued Jack. "Ile must!" screamed Echo. "There is a crime charged against you. He must return to prove that your story as to the money— He must know through your own lips the lie that separated us." "You love him—you love him!" Jack kept repeating the words, aghast at the knowledge that Echo seemed to be forcing upon him, "Bring Mm back to nee." Firmly she spoke. Jack gazed at her in fear. Choking- ly he cried, again, "You love him!" "I don't know. All I know is that he has suffered, ...ae---`el is suffering ndw, through your treachery. Bring him back • to me that I may stand face to face with him and say: 'I have not lied to you. I have not betrayed your trust.' " "You love him," he repeated. "Find him— bring him back." Jack 'was help- less, speechless. Echo's attitude overpowered him. The wife star gored again to the piano, slowly sinking to the_ seat, She had turned her back Dcep. sobs shook 1WI' onlhitn.. This`hc• shoulders. tion hurt him more than any word she had spoken. Her face was buried in her hands. Deep sobs shook her shoulders. Jack followed her to take her again In kis arms, but she made, no taiga of forgiveness. Turning, he strode to the; rack and took down his hat and car- tridge belt. Pick.ng up his rifle, he firmly declared: "I will go. I'll search the plains, the mountains. and the des- erts to find this man, I will offer my life if it will serve to place the life you love beside you. Goodby." The sound of the closing of the door roused Echo to a hill realization of ' 'what she had done. She had driven the one man she really loved: out of her life, sent him forth to wander over the face of the earth in search pf. Dick Lane, for whom she no longer cared. She must bring her husband back. She must tell him that he alone had her heart in his keeping. "No, no, JaekI Come back!" she called. "I love you ands you alone! Come back! Come back!" Before she could throw open the door and sum on him back to happi- ness i• ness and trust Bud, who had heard the full confession from the room in which he had taken refuge when he thought Buck would throw the blame on Jack,. caught her by the arm. "Stop!" he commanded. "Bud Lane!" exclaimed Echo, have heard"— "I've heard—my olive!" Bud spoke rapidly. His belief was Continued. He would have full re- venge for what bis brother had suf- fered at Payson's bands. To Echo's plea of "Don't stop mei" he shouted "No!" and caught the young wife and pulled her back from the doorway. Echo struggled to free herself, but. the young man was too Strong, "He had ruined Dick's life, stolen from him the woman be loved!" he hissed in her ear. "Jack! Jack!" was her only an- swer. . "No; he shan't come back! Let him go as he let my brother go --out of your life forever!" "I can't, I can't! 1 love hitel" Throwing Bud off, she ran to the door. find pulled his revolver and eried, "If he enters that door I'll kill lthn!" Outside Eche heard Jack inquiring, "Echo, 1Veho, you called me?" Echo laid her band on the knob to open the door when.. She heard the elicit of the 'pistol's Mammer as Bud raised 1t, With a prayer in her eyes she looked '1dt'tti,, tr i' e lig', i, (likr,iness, sleeuiesse, at the yeuttg an. Ilse evaaebdurate.. "wvife, a wife of the west, as fair as its -skies and as steadfast as its hills, and II—I'm not worthy"-- •-• "Not worthy—you haven't—it isn't"-- 'gasped Echo, starting back from bins, 'thinking that Jack was about to con- fess that under some strange stress of circumstances he had slain the express 'agent. "No, it isn't that," hastily answered Jack, with a shudder at the idea. "I've lied to you," be simply con. •fessec? "Lied to me—you?" cried Echo in .dismay. "I've been a living lie for months," relentlessly continued Jack, nerving 'himself for the ordeal through which he would have to pass. "Jack," wailed Echo, shrinking from t•bim on her knees, covering her face -with her hands. "It's about Dick." Echo started. Again Dick Lane had :arisen as from out the grave. ' "What of him?" she asked, rising to her feet and moving away from him. "He is alive!" Jack did not dare look at his wife. Ile sat' with his face white and pinch - .ed with anguish. The young wife groaned in her ago- ny. The blow had fallen. Dick alive, • and she now the wife of another man! What of her promise? What must he =think of her? "I didn't know it until after we were tengaged," pursued Jack, "six months. :It was the day I questioned you about 'whether you would keep your promise to Dick if be returned. I wanted to ste11 you then, but the telling meant that I should lose you. He wrote to me from Mexico, where ire had been in the hospital. He was coming home. He inclosed this letter to you." Jack drew from his pocket the letter which Dick bad inclosed in the one which he had sent Jack telling him of his proposed return. . She took the missive mechanically . and opened it slowly. "I wanted to be square with him, ;but I loved you," pleaded Jack. "I loved you better than life, better than honor. I couldn't lose you, and so"— His words fell on unheeding ears. She was not listening to his pleadings. .Her thoughts dwelt on Dick Lane and •what he must think of her. She had -taken refuge at the piano, on which .she bowed her head within her arms. Slowly she arose, crushing the letter tin her hand. In -a low, stunned voice .she cried, "You lied to me!" Jack buried his face in his hands. • "Yes," he confessed. "He came the 'night we were married. I met him .in the garden. He paid that money the had borrowed from me when he • went away." Horror struck, Echo turned to him. • "He was there that night?" she gasp- ed. "Oh, Jack! You knew and you, "Whar did you get that money?" never told me: I had given my word Ito marry him. You, knowing that, have done this thing to me?" Her deep emotion showed itself in her voice. The more Jack told her the worse became her plight. "I loved you." Jack was defending hf mself now, fighting for his love. ' Did Dick believe I knew he was living?" continued the girl mercilessly. "He must have done so." "Jack, Jack!" sobbed', lttclto, tears streaming down: her face. "What could 1 do? 1' was almost mad with fear of losing you. I was tempted to kill him then and there. I left your father to guard the door— to keep him out until after the eere-: :many." ME SO. WEAK AT FINES}:... COULD NOT WORK. 'sirs. George Miles, Grimsby, Ont:, writes Just a few lines to let_ you '•;`•.>t. ghat AiilLutns $cart toed.. Terve Ids have doe for inc. 1 suffered - eatly with my nerves and 1:eoame so -Tsang and meal: at tithes 1 could not •irk. A friend of mine Advised me to L n box of veer hills, which 1 did, and ! to fou•rd greet relief. They ere the Hest eteeietuO 1 i,ase ever taken for the dict reel nert ca; 1 reeo'ninend thein to nee one s•+ifeeing free: 1 cart or nerve Lae le. Lateen -as lTo • rt end Nerve Pills teaks c'ik ie', rt s: rong and, the shaky ne rvos firm 1.•• tteeti ting A strengthening. a:ud restorative influence to every organ .and tleetie ot the i'o:ly end curing pal - TVA; w tN 511844 rk'iMBki. 1t&U OH 10, Aril "Ile is calve!" rapid beat of horse's hoofs told of his mounting and riding away. "Gone! Oh, Bud; Bud, what have you done?" "I should have killed him," was Bud's answer as he gazed after the retreating form galloping down the trail. Mrs. Allen, hearing Echo's calls, has- tested in from the kitchen. She found her daughter sobbing at the table. "What is the matter, child?" Then, turning to Bud, she fiercely demanded of him, "What have you been sayln' to her?" "Nothin ," he replied as he left the house. "Oh, mother, mother!" wailed Echo. "Jack—I have sent him away." "Sent him ' away?" repeated the startled Mrs. Allen. , "Yes," assured Echo.. • "You don't mean to say he is guilty —you don't mean"— "No, no!" interrupted Echo. "Oh, I never thought of that! He must come back. Cali dad, call Slim." Echo had forgotten Jack's promise to Slim. He, too, in his period of stress had overlooked the fact that he was a suspected murderer. Now he had fled. He must be brought back to clear his good name. Mrs. Allen called her husband and the sheriff into the room. "What's the row?" shouted the sher- iff. "Jack's gone!" cried Mrs. Align. In -amazement the two men could only repeat the news "Gone!" "Gone where?" crisply demanded the sheriff. "Don't stand there starlit.'; do some - thin'," scolded Mrs. Allen. "He gave me his word to stay an' face this thing out," shouted the be- wildered Slim. "It's all my fault. I sent him away.'." Echo seized Slim's hand as she spoke; • "You sent him away?" She fell on her knees before him. Lifting her hands as in prayer, she implored: "I never thought of his promise to you. He never thought of it. Go find him—bring him back to meP, "Bring him back?" howled the ex- cited sheriff, his eyes bulging, his "You brother—he is 110$4,r r' : ' , t • fun , "r,!1"` n'uscs c., Nothing could move him. ge ter t do ,i(:I: , 4-t k 01 vitaity, etc. Turning, she shrieked: "NO; 1 did net Pelee an : ar.'r retie l'ne, 'ori for $1.25. calif Go! Irl 'God's•, haute, got" -cit titl r.;tt:a.a, (Jr tneileti direct on receipt et rr of tutee 1 v 7 ne't's Aliltrutn Co., Limited,Goodby, was Back s farewnli. The 'Toronto, tent, f revenge himself upon the Apaches anti Apache spring in zne lava pens. slowly on tired nor es, fee the purstr chiefly upon tae ienegado Aicisee, Slim said dais posse took their Getty ing soldiers have given them no halt - them. supposed soil to lac whit tnands from elle officers of the pt►r- ing space. Naked save for a breeeh- them. Somehow be burned faint rather suers. • The cowpunchers gave them Mout, with a narrow red band of dyed than Jaek Payson as being the chief much assistance ns scouts, knowing buckskin about his forehead, in which cause of his miseries. "If be had not the country through which the Indians sticks :t feather, each rides sileut, stolen the buried gold T would have tied. Keeping In touch, with tho main ' grim, cruel, a hideous human reptile, returned in time," he muttered. "He command, they rode ahead to protect Its native to the desert as is the Gila is at the bottom of all this, As T walk- It fora any surprise, The chief Ili- monster. The 'terse is saddleless. For ed away from Jack in the garden I dfan Peont got so far ahead at one: a bridle the warrior uses a piece of time in the chase grass rape twisted spout the pony's that he was not lower jaw. Itis legs droop laxly by seen t or two l the horse's sides. In lits right baud ho dIyiug flays. Once,aton by grasps, rag s, bis rifle, resting the butt on the his knee. The only sound to break the his eyes with shading ' stillness of the day la the rattle of stones slipping and sliding down the his' hands and gazing intently at a mountain side so far ahead felt as if it was McKee that was fol- lowing me with his black, snaky eyes." Accordingly Dick directed his way to a region reputed to be both rielt lo burled treasure and infested by boa tile 'ratans. He wandered westward to Tuhirosa, then down to Fort Grant stud toward the lava beds of south western Arizona, In all that, arid land there was nothing so withered as his soul. Jack, well mounted, with a pack - mule carrying supplies, had picked up Miles trail after it left Tularosa from . a scout out of Fort Grant. Slim Hoover headed for Fort Grant in Ms search for Jack. Although the rs.ncbman had only a brief start of' him, Slim lost the track. at the dyer ford, Knowing Dick had gone into the desert, ,lack headed eastward, whin' Slim, supposing that Jack was l.reek tug for the border to escape into a for - (dem country, turned southward. From the scout who bed met J: e;: and I:ielk the sheri;'f lenrued that tit• two then were headed for the 'lava beds, which were occui.led by hostile Apaebee. Detachments of the „Third cavalry were stationed at the fort, with Cala net Hardie in cocimancl of tine fncnou•' i' troop, a band of 1 0(1 1511 fighter• never equaled, In turn they chased Coehlee, Vieto• t�"> via and (term]imo with their Apache ter==-- werrlcrs up anti down and across the 1.110 Grande. Marti proved. each chief• Blanket signals, gunge of the In- diens, but his craving for water was twin in turn uouid Cat uirh hi' bnn4 diens of the so great that he did not observe their ftr't 10 the 1 tee bee' +,•:t1 item eseest: - southwest is an interesting field of trail. the herder 1.;:`, `:e:.t ,,, t; 1:er t' tic study. On the occasion of a raid like Reeling toward the spring, he cast . L^nited States soldiers could not fol the one described the warriors who aside his hat and flungdown his rifle low, Hardie.'oolod Victoria, however. were to participate would gather at In his eagerne,,s to drink. Throwing Texas rangers had met the Apache point and construct a mound with himself on bis face before the hollow, chief in an engagement on the banks as many stones in it as there were in the rock from which the water trio - of the Rio Grande. Only eight Ameri- warriors. Then they would scatter into kled, he first saw that the waters had cans returned from the encounter.small bands. When any band returned dried up. With his bony fingers he Hardie took up his pursuit and fel• to the mound after losing a fight and dug into the dry sand, crying aloud in lowed Victoria across the elver. The the others were not there the leader despair. Stiffly he arose and blundered Indians had relaxed their vigiluuce, would take from the mound as many blindly to a rock, upon which he sank not expecting pursuit and despi tug stones as he had lost warriors. Thu in his weakness. the Mexican rurales. Troop F caught the other bands, on returning, could "Another day like tbis and I'll give them oil guard in the mountains, The " tell just how many men had fallen. up the fight," he moaned. "Apache fight was one to extermination. Vide -In the arid. regions of the west water spring dry, the first time in years; Ha and his entire band were slant. signs are quite frequent. They usual- Little Squaw spring nothing but (lust This was the troop which was await- ly consist of a grouping of stones, and alkali. It is twenty miles to Clear- ing orders to go after the Apaches. with a longer triangular stone in the water spriug—twenty—miles—if I can Colons] Hardie told Sling that the center, its apex pointing in the diree- make it." Indians were bound to head for the tion where the water is to be found. Dick trembled with weakness. His Lara beds. If the men for whom he In some cases the -Seater is so far swollen tongue clove to the roof of his was looking were in the desert the from the trail that four or five of mouth. His lips were cracked and troop would find them more quickly these signs must be followed up be- blackened. Bits of foam flickered than Slim and Uig posse. fore the water is found. about the corners of his mouth. The glare blinded his eyes, which were half closed. At times fe"er waves swept over him; again he shuddered with cold. Sounds of falling waters filled his ears. The sighing of the wind through the canyon walls suggested the tric- kling of fountains. Rivers flowed be- fore his eyes through green meadows only to fade into the desert as he gazed. "What a laud—what a land! It is the abode of the god of thirst! He tempts men into his valley with the lure of gold and saps the lifeblood from their bodies drop by drop. Drop by drop I hear it falling. No—it is water I hear! There it is! How cool it looks!" Dick: rose and staggered toward the cliff. In his delirium of thirst he saw streams of water gush down the moun- tain side. Holding out his arms, he cried, "Saved, saved!" iris• bands fell limply by his sides as the illusion faded. Ile then dou- bled them into fists and shook them at the cliff iu a last defiance of despair. "You shan't drive me mad!" He seized his empty canteen, press- ing it to his lips. "No; I drained that .two days ago, or was it three?" he whispered in panic as be threw it aside. Picking up his gun, he falteringly at- tempted the ascent. "I won't give up -- i won't!" he shouted huskily. "I've fought the desert before and con- quered. I'll conquer again—I'll"— ilis will power ebbed with his fail- ing strength. Blindness fell upon him. Oblivion sweet over him. He sank. "Bring hien back?" cheeks swelling, his red hair bristling and his voice ringing in its highest key. "Bring Ulna back? - Yoe. just bet I will. That's why I'm sheriff of Final county." Slim whirled out of the door aS if propelled by a gigantic blast. Echo fell fainting at her mother's feet. C11APTEa OIETIT to the land of dead things, through cities that are forgot- ten, fared Dick Lane. Tricked by his friend, with the woman he loved lost to him, he wandered on- ward. Automiitieally he took up again his quest for buried treasure. That which in the flush of youthful enthusiasm and roseate prospects oflife and love had seized hint as tt passion Una how a settled habit, and fortunately,eo, for it kept hire froth going mad, Ile bed tie thought of gain, only the achieve - meat of a fixed purpose, a monomania. With thig 1tuptilso Wile conjoined a mere volitional aietivi—hq wished to pathway when loosened by the hoofs of the ponies. Creeping down the canyon wall, they that the soldiers cross the bottom, pass the spring and could scarcely disappear at a turn in the canyon discern it, he walls. Nature and Indian meet and' declared be had merge in a world of torture and de - seen the fugi- $pade. tives climb the Dick bad fared badly In the lava trail. The feat beds. One spring after the other he seemed impossi- found dry. His horse fell from ex- ble until the sec- . liaustion and thirst, Ile ended the and morning . sufferings of his pack mule with a re - after, wben the velvet. bullet. scout pointed Dick staggered on afoot across the Out to the colo- desert, hoping to find water at Apache net t it e p o n T spring. His blue shirt was torn and trael.s up :he faded to a dingy purple. Hat and mountain s d e. shoulders were gray with alkali dust. The Apache Contact witb the rocks and cactus had scouts kept track rent trousers and leggings. His shoes, of the soldiers' cut by sharply pointed stones and with movements, com- thread rotted by the dust of the des- municating with - erts, were worn to shreds. Unshaven the main body and unshorn, with sunken cheeks and rC with blanket sig- eyes bright with the delirium of thirst, nals and smoke he dragged his weary way across the columns. desert. He reached Apache spring The sign fan. shortly after the passage of the In - Slim waited at Fort Grant for orders, writing back to Sagebrush telling him of his plans. Fort Grant followed the usual plan of all frontier posts. A row of officers' houses faced the parade grounds. Di- rectly opposite were the cavalry bar- racks fort. On one side of the quad• rangie were the stables, and the fourth line consisted of the quartermaster's buildings and the post trader's store Small ranchmen had gathered near the fort for protection and because of the desire of the white man for company. In days of pence garrison life was mo. notorious. But the Apaches needed constant watching. As a soldier the Apache was cruel and cowardly. Ile fought dismounted never making an attack unless at his own advantage. As infantry man he was unegnaled. Veteran army officers • adopted the Apache tactics anti in• stalled in the army the plan of menet- ed infantry, soldiers who move on norseback, but fight on foot, detailing; one man of every four to guard the horses. ltlounted on wiry ponies inured to hardships, to picking up a living on the scanty herbage of the plains. rid- ing without saddles and carrying no equipment, the Indians had little trou- ble in avoiding the soldiers. Leaving the reservation, the Apaches would oommit some outrage and then, swing - would the are of a great circle, swing- ing on be back to camp and settled long be- fore the soldiers could overtake then hampered by orders from the war de- partment, which in turn was molested by the sentimental friends of the In- dians, the soldiers never succeeded In taming the Apache until Crook cut off communications and thrashed thein se thoroughly in these same lava beds that they never recovered. In Slim's ansence 11ucik McBee and his gang had taken possession of rinal county. hustlers and bad men were coming in from Texas and the strip. Slim's election for another term was by no means certain. no diel not know this, but if he had it would not have made any difference to him. Ile was after Jack and at Any cost would bring him back to face trial. The r;dgues of Pival county seized upon the flight of Jack as a good excuse to down Slim. The sheriff was more eager to find Jack and learn from him that Buck's charge was false than to take him prisoner. Ile knew the ac- cusation would not stand full investi- gation. Slowly the hours passed until the order for "boots and Saddles" was sounded and the troops trotted out of the fort gate. Scouts ,soon picked up their trail, batt that was different from finding the Indians. Ofttintes the troopers would ride into a hastily abandoned camp with the ashes Still warm, brit never it sight of a warrior could be had. Over broad mesas, down narrow mountain trails and tip can- yons so deep that the stip ;never bulky itcnctrated theism the soldiers foliowed the renegades. Vet a day the trail teas lost. Then It was picked up by the print Of tt pony'S he01' beside tt water hole. But always the line of flight led toward aft Only the Indian and the mule can smell water. This accomplishment en- abled the fleeing Apaches to take ev- ery advantage of the pursuing troop- ers, who must travel from spring to spring along known trails, In the long, weary chase men and horses began to fail rapidly. Short ra- tions quickly became slow starvation fare. Hardie fed his men and horses on mesquite beau, a plant heretofore considered poisonous. For water he was forced to depend upon the cactus, draining the fluid secreted at the heart of the plant. With faces blistered by the sun and caked with alkali, blue shirts faded to a purple tinge and trousers and accou- The soldiers rode on silently and deter- ?nincclty. terments covered with a gray, pow- dery dust the soldiers rode on silently and determinedly. Hour after hour the troop flung itself across the plains and into the heart of the lava beds, each day cutting down the Apache lead. CHAPTER XIV. FALSE dawn in the lava beds of Arizona. The first faint tinge on the eastern horizon fades, and the stars shine the more brilliantly in the brief, darkest hour before the true daybreak. An icy wind sweeps down canyons and over mesas, stinging the marrow of the wayfar'er's bones, In the heavens the innumerable stars burn steadily in crystal coldness. Shadows Ile in styg- Ian blackness at foot of rock and val- ley. Soft and clear the tights of night swathe the uplands. An awesome si- lence hangs over the desert. flushed and bumbled by the immensity of space. one expects to hear the rush of worlds through the universe. At times the bosom swells with a wild desire to sing and shout 10 the glory of pure riving. The day comes quickly. The sun, leaping over the edge of the world, floods mesa and canyon, burning, with- ering, sparing no living thing, lavish- ing reds and purples, blues and vio- lets, upon canyon walls and wind sculptured rooks. But a remorseful game, blinding. sight destroying, is thrown back from the sand and alkali of the desert. Shriveled sagebrush and shrunken cactus bravely fight for life. A narrow pathway lends from the mesa dawn the canyon's wall, twisting and doubling on itself to Apatite spring. The trail then moves south- ward between towering euifrs, a lane through which is caught a far distant glimpse of the mountains. Little whirl- wieds of dust spring up ever and anon, twirling wildly across the sandy wastes. The air suffocates like the breath of a furnace. Ever the pitllets Sun searches and Scotches, es con- science Searu and Stings a Stticken soul. »own the itarroW trail, past the spring, rido tri single file the Apaches AT DEATH'S DOOR FROM KIDNEY DISEASE SAVED DRY BY "EBDIT-A-WES" 7 ct t! z,.,i. i't tho desert, At; the l t '.ti f'' +l '''' , "`1.:•" 1:'t 'ielte e regi 1, , i i • . t 1. I ... Ir,rt:: I:ttt 't.' 1' 111'4111 fuc,t c'r c : . . .o 't titan itfa.uta Llt'•' tl't' , tit'rt 1,410:1t- ly be- fled l,el,ii:d t lac' i'u' :,s, It ails, Jac t:. re 1 '(. a 1,.11', ti hive hefts riteif t''i' (et . .'i•' 1 :rich; t11 matt L'' -r .t .t Lo re:welted fate s., t,; my t• •.i';' t:,Yn 11•1 1 dices cf 1111' .t! :tea-- ,. a hitt thready let:teethe 1 „ t' t nisi go. ;-8 the Fpr1111X t!'ry tv .'r(! v '* 1t' to leans if be were alma* 't'14' i. tea !.:'d teed - tercet to se::t.ut.al 1.11.1 itt the v..t:cr hole. Jack's hone and b'irrn- n'':l b be had !eft at the l:rad c.f fife' t attystn. were already in the indi tnA petwessi.m. %%'ith Ititn he carried 61,1 ri:le firth a revolver. A one:ten *•t r, ai,'r {las flung over his ::ata ler. fat' desert Itad placed t.,: si.:•te, fesse r'1.1,a, turn- ing itis clotiata erase 'The ten of his face was deepened Uses ((beet bis eyes and mouth .•hewed hew lla m'h he had suffered pey-=1'•ally aucl coc'ntally in his search for the men be beiieved was his successful rival In love. Reaching the spring. ht' cooked about cautiously before be laid down his Cr,ANnr.ASSx1l, ONl. "'Taro years ago, tite doctor made forty-four calls on ate, and then said he had done alt he could for me. I was suffering with intense Kidney Trouble and Inflammation had set in, Two other doctors were consulted and agreed that nothing could he done to help me. On the recommendation of a neighbor. I took "Fruit -a -tines" and they cured rue, Today, I take ''Fruit-a-tives" as my only medicine. I aux in excellent health. and " Prtiit-a-tivcs " is the tnedicine that cured me after I had been at Death's Door for months. I am glad to be able to give you this testimonial. It may benefit some other woman suffering as I suffered, as I believe that l would not be alive to -day had I not used "rrnit-a-tives" Miss. P. H. W EBTSr17.. Trait -e -fives" --' by its marvellous Action on the kidneys •'- completely restores these vital organs to their norttnai strength and vigor—and cures ever trace Of KidneyTrotblc. "rruit a-tiveia" i9 the only medicine in the world made of ft'nit Soc, a box, d for $a.so, trial sire, age. Atdealere,orfrom Prnitya•tivesLitnited, Ottawa. "l won't give up—I "won't!" - rifle. He tugged at the butt of his re- volver to make certaiu that it could be pulled quickly from the holster. Tak- ing off bis hat, he knelt to drink. He smiled and confidently tapped his can- teen when he found the spring dry. He was raising his canteen to his lips when he spied Dick's body. Jumping behind a rock, he pulled hie revolver, covering the insensible mane. It might be a trap. He scanned the trail, the cliff, the canyon. Hearing and seeing nothing, he slipped bis re- volver into his holster and hurried tot Dick's side. At first he did not recog- nize him. -The desert and thirst had• wrought many changes in his friend's face. When recognition came he threw his arms about the prostrate form, crying, "Dick, at Iast, at last!" His voice was broken with emotion. The search had been so long, so weary, and the ending so sudden! He had found Dick, but it looked as if be camel too late. Gathering Dick up ie. his arms, he raised him until his bead rested ox his knees. Forcing open his mouth, he poured a little water down his throat. Then with a moistened handkerchief he wetted temples and wrists. Slowly, Dick struggled back to life. "Water—water—it's water!" he gasp-.. ed, struggling for more of the prec1oust fluid. "Easy," cautioned Jack. "Only a little now—mote when you're strong* er." "Who is it?" cried Dick. - Not wait-' ing for Jack to enlighten him, he con- tinued: "No matter—you came in time. I couldn't have held out any longer.. All the springs are dry. I figured on reaching Clearwater." Jack helped Dick to his feet. Tata, ing his stricken friend's right arm, he trot sw>ureti d little *atel' doton his titi'O4f. (To be dcinitifitteA.)