Arcata High School - Advance Yearbook (Arcata, CA)

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The lam of the Restart All around them, the savage, searching glare of the desert moonlight fell on a world of night-mare shapes and shadows-gaunt, fantastic cacti, grotesquely misshapen yuccas, goblin bulks of rock and cliff and sand-dune, overhead the stars glittered hard and white and brilliant. They rode swiftly, unswervingly, as ride those whose journey is long and desperate, the man swaying easily to the stride of his horse, the woman, awkward in her male attire, clinging to the saddle from exhaustion, her eyes fixed on her husband. Save for the shuflling, dust-muffled foot-falls of their horses, there was no- where any sound. Now and then, the man looked back anxiously at his companion, and at length, reining in, he untied a canteen from his saddle, passed his arm around her shoulders, and poured the last few drops of water between her lips. She caught at his arm to steady herself. You're sure we're headed right? she queried. Certain sure, he returned, pointing to the pole-star. Due north to Dead Horse Draw and then follow that up to Crater Tank. We'll make Dead Horse in an hour now, and the Tank before sun-up. l'.isten,', she whispered, I thought- He patted her shoulder awkwardly. Steady, lassie, he said, just a hawk or something. Then in a changed, bitter voice he added: Oh, they're likely to catch us all right, before we get out to the railroad, because we'll have to lay over awhile at the tank, but they can't be near up to us yet. You've got the money safe ?,' Safe as can be-seventeen thousand. Five thousand sheep at three dollars a head, all round-that's a fair price this year, and two thousand extra for you to make up for the hard times you've hadf, The woman shivered and moved wearily in the saddle. All the same, she said, I wish you hadn't taken but the fifteen thousand--just what was fair. He laughed grimly. I reckon that wonlt make any difference. They'd have camped on our trail all right anyway. But if we keep up our nerve we can get away with it just the same. Now we've got to hit the dust. Then they set off rapidly through the black sprawling shadows of the yuccas. Coming to a wide gravel-strewn arroyo, they turned up its nearer bank, and as the man had prophesied, in the first flush of dawn they caught sight of Crater Tank-a small volcanic cave not more than fifty yards across, at the bottom of which, as in a basin, had collected a little pool of rain water. Dropping on their faces, they drank deeply, cleansing the dry caked dust from their eyes. Rising, the man surveyed the scene. Above him the upper rim of the crater rose forty feet or more, a rough crag of broken basalt that sloped down on either side to a low parapet. Weill camp up there, he announced. He led the woman by the hands up a devious path among sharp rocks to a little ledge just under the crest. And then, while she spread their blankets, he placed two stones on a rock to form a loop-hole for his rifle. They slept heavily, in utter exhaustion, until the full blaze of the noon- day sun fell on the n1an's face. He rose quickly to his feet and, climbing to the pinnacle of the crag, peered carefully about him, but there was nowhere any sign of pursuit-nowhere anything but a limitless waste of rock, and sand and cactus. Twenty-.tix

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The man dropped back to the ledge, drank heavily from the canteen, and then wetting a handkerchief, carefully wiped away the little drops that beaded the forehead of the sleeping woman. He paused a moment then, gazing at her with troubled eyes. If they found our trail,'l he muttered, getting to his feet, they'll be here in an hour now. But Iym d-d if I'll wake her-not for all the cow-men in the territory. Then he gathered some dead cactus and dry roots and .built a fire, and finding an old can, set about preparing coffee. As he looked across the crag, far back across the plain in line of his own trail, he saw a small and slowly approaching cloud of dust. He roused his wife and accompanied her down to the pool. Better drink enough to last a while, he said, and she smiled back at him sleepily. Reckon I don't need no urgingf' she answered, while he filled the can- teen again. . Now we'll eat a bit,U he announced, when they had regained their camp, and from a Hour-sack that had been tied to one of the saddles, pro- duced a little food. She studied his face for a moment, and then her cheeks whitened. They'reA comingf' she cried, in a sharp whisper, and, rising to her knees, saw over the edge of the rock three men riding toward them swiftly. The three came quickly nearer, and the man on the rock pushed the muzzle of his rilie through the loop-hole. It's them, he whispered. Bill Jones and old man Brown, and Sam Collins-President, Secretary, and Treasurer of South Bar Cattle Company. He chuckled savagely. And by G-, he added, if they try to pass that rock across there, I'll fix 'em. The three were about to pass the rock, when a sharp word of command and a close-passing bullet sent them tumbling from their horses, and under the cover of the rocks. The man above had all the advantage, and his an- tagonists were glad to retire. Terrified by the firing, the three horses bolted back along the trail and then galloped out of sight. There followed a confused murmur of consultation from behind the lower rock. Is that you up there, John Howard P Yes.,' You'd better come out and give yourself up peaceable,-there's three of us. Had I? There's two of us up here, and we ain't peaceable. VV'e'll sure get you somehow. Starve you out if we have to, you -.' He ended incoherently, in a hoarse snarl of curses. A silence ensued, then another murmur of consultation below, then a voice again uplifted in parley: Look here, John Howard. There's no good making this business any worse than it is. We canit get to the water while you're up there, and you can't while we're here, either. If you'll let us go down and get a drink, we'll let you have one, too. That's fair.'i Howard laughed-a laugh of triumph. Oh, you're thirsty, are you, Bill? I sure am sorry, but I drank my skin full just before you came and we've got a canteen besides, so I reckon you'll have to wait a bit. In a lowered voice, he added, We've got 'em, girl. The man that's got the water has the power here. And you get what you're strong enough to takeg that's the law of the desertf, Again came the voice from the opposite side of the crater, half-choked with anger, All right, Howard. We'll wait-until dark, and then welll get to you, too. Twen ty-sewn: