Hudson High School - True Blue Yearbook (Hudson, WI)

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No. 5. True Blue. fiudson, Wis. may. 1900. . . MOTTO, . . “Hood Is to donne.” The Lost Hope. Written for the True Blue. We were travelling up the great canon, the sun sending his rays down upon us unceasingly. The air was still and in a distant tree a crow sat taking a rest after his noonday meal. The burros stalked along with ears down, their drivers ever urging them on. Throughout the long, hot afternoon we toiled on and just as the sun was setting in the west we came upon a little cabin built by the side of a road- way leading into the gorge. An old man came to the door at my call and heartily welcomed us. For this we were thank- ful, for, as after traveling over the burning plains of Arizo- na, our horses and pack mules were well exhausted. In the evening, when we were all seat- ed oh the porch, a thunder-storm came up. The roar and crack of the lightning resounded through- out the canon, when suddenly it ceased as quickly as it had be- gun. The old man leaned against the porch post and would have fallen had I not caught him and aided him into the house When a little recovered he said: “Stranger I have known of but one storm before like this and that storm was one the recol- lection of which is branded upon my brain as though with a hot iron.” The old man crossed over to the fireplace deliberately filled his pipe and then told the following story: “It was six yearsago last June, 1 was then owner of the Four X ranch. One day a young man came to me and applied for a position which I gave him as brander and puncher. As the days wore on 1 came to dislike this fellow. I had been the sole companion and adviser of my only daughter whose mother had died when she was child. Per-