Arcata High School - Advance Yearbook (Arcata, CA)

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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:

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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 sheepman's voice, full of sarcasm, answered: You will? Oh, you will? Do you think I can't shoot? And therelll be a moon, too. just you try it. Hours passed in .an absolute silence-tense, ominous, terrifying. Like a ball of molten metal, the sun at last dropped down below the horizon. The faint breeze of evening blew in across the plains, the flame faded from the sky, and the long shadows that fell from the rock and cactus and yucca melted into the one deepening gloom of night. Now, also, the three behind the lower rock began to test the screen of the darkness. A hat raised on a gun-muzzle dropped instantly, bullet-torn, an attempt to retreat back into the desert was likewise frustrated. And be- fore the last reflected glow of the sunset had quite faded away, the moon rose over the desert like a watchful eye. The night passed on. Once the cattlemen tried the vigilance of their captor by a second attempt to creep upon him around the rim of the crater. At daybreak the game was yet unfinished. It was two hours after dawn, when already the cruel heat of the sun lay like a brown Hame against the black rocks of the crater, that a strange voice, like that of one stifling, burst forth in a confused babble of invective. Ah, d- you! d- you! the voice cried, rising in a fury of anger. What's the good of keeping up a play like this ? The man above moved his rifle slightly. Oh, youlre suffering now, ain't you ? he pursued. But what do you think I suffered all the years you men had the upper hand of me? When, because there was a dozen of you and only one of me you tried to shut me off from all the water-holes? When you tried to run me off the range that was as much mine as it was yours? When you tried to shoot me in the back for fear I'd give away that you were fencing government land? Vlfhen I didn't dare leave my well alone for fear you'd poison it, nor my house for fear of what would happen there ? Ah-you suffer now, and you've camped on my trail because you think it was me that blew open the safe of your bank and got away with a little of your money? What if I did? Who was it that came in the night and drove my five thousand sheep over the cliff into the canyon? That took from me all I had in the world, that I'd worked for all my life? What do you think I suffered then, and my wife that's stood by me through it all? Tell me that, will you, tell me that. For a moment no one answered him, and there was no sound except an echo. Then the strange voice from below spoke again. Yes, yes, I know all about that, Howard. But what's the use of going over it now? What is it you're trying to do? Trying to do? just what you said you'd do to me-starve you out, only for water. When you're ready to sign a paper giving me that money you lost from your bank in payment for my sheep that you killed, then you can put your hands up and come out and I'll let you get to the water. Savy ? Yes, we savy. But we ain't all in yet, 'and we reckon we can stand it as long as you can. Go on with your starving. Once again stillness resumed dominion of the desert. From time to time now the woman relieved her husband at his post. They drank the last of the water in the canteen and ate the last of their food. Over all the sun rose high, an implacable vampire whose clinging lips sucked the moisture from their bodies insatiably. Noon came-one-two o'clock, that moment of the sun's uttermost vio- lence. And like a sudden blow upon the calm face of the silence, a frenzied, beast-like scream echoed across the crater, and from behind the lower rock a man plunged out into the desert, clutching at his throat, and, with the spasmodic movement of a madman, tearing off his clothing. Twen t y-ei gh!