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I
A STORY OF THE PLAINS.
IT WAS TOLD WALTER WELLMAN BY
A SOUTHERN SENATOR.
IIow » Surveyor's Parly Found Water
Jnat In Tliuo to Hava Life and Left a
Friendly Mark That Proved a fiodeead
i Who
ed.
[Special Correnpondenc*. J
Washington, Oct. 30.—A southern
senator told me ono day a story which 1
now wish to pnt in print. It i» a simple
tale of the early day* in the far west.
LETT A DRY CAMP,
and had beat tw told in the wonla of the
senator himself. “Before the war, while
a nnmher of routes for tho proposed Pa
cific railway were being surveyed. E. T.
Hoovill, of Cleveland. O., waa in chargo
of a corps of engineers engaged in tri
angulation and level work out in Ne
vada. On ono occasion it became neces
sary for tho engineers to leavo their base
of supplies nnd cut across the Nevada
plains. Mr. Hcovill discovered that the
journey would require about six days;
that a water camp could bo mado every
night excepting the third, and that
would be dry. So ho made his arrange
ments accordingly, being a prudent
man, if not an oxporienced plainsman.
"His outfit consisted of n couple of
wagons nnd about fifteen men. Ono of
the wagons carried a largo barrel, which
tho chief insisted upon partly filling with
water, as camp was broken in tho early
morning. To this precaution, js-rhsps,
all the men in tho party owed their lives.
Tho l>arty found no water at their sec
ond night's comp, but thero was still a
pretty good supply in the barrel, and
next morning they poshed on as usuaL
Mr. Sconll instructed the men to bo as
economical ns poesiblo in tho use of wa
ter, os that night's camp was suro to bo
dry. Nevertheless, when they started
out on tho fourth day's journey there
was but a little water in tho ltottom of
tho barrel, and tho heat was so drying
and warping tho nearly empty cask that
it was by no means certain if tho little
that remained could bo saved. Tho heat
also mado men and animals inordinately
thirsty, nnd before midday Mr. Scovill
found it necessary to station himself tie-
side the precious barrel, revolver in hand,
threatening to shoot tho first man who
took water withont his consent.
"Tho beat appeared to riso from the
sand liko vapor and danco a death dance
before tho sufferers' eyes. Not a breath
of air stirred. There was not a cloud as
big as a man's hand in all tho sky. The
sun was liko a great round funince, and
seemed to bo dipping nearer nnd nearer
tho earth. Ono poor boy, a chain man,
succumbed an.l was placed in a wagon,
with ono of his companions beside him
to put a wet cloth on Ills brow and fan
him.
"Tl»o horses struggled on, their noses
hung nearly down to tho ground, and
thowhito lather chafing their limits, their
eye* bulged out of their heads like knot*
on a tree. All of tho men who were
ablo watted or helped push tho heavy
wagons. Boxes of food W2tu thrown
overltoard to lighten tho burden. No
ono was permitted to drink, merely to
wet his handkerchief in I ho bottom of
tho rand nnd thrust tho damjtcued end
in his mouth. Tho horses did their
drinking from n sponge*.
"Finally the last drop disappeared
from the barrel. Tho men satisfied
themselves «>f this by sopping their hand
kerchiefs in tho comers and taking them
out perfectly dry. Then with their jack-
knives they gouged oat pieces of the
damp staves and sucked them. One of
the men became delirious, and knelt re
peatedly in the saud as if ho were drink
ing from a babbling brook. Then he be
gan to tear nt hi* throat and curse, and
Mr. Scovill had to have him bound with
ropes and put In ono of tho wagons to
protect him against himself. Soon the
teamster, who had refused water that
his horses might hare more, began to
laugh loudly and to go through the mo
tions of taking glasses of boer from s
counter and drinking them. It was pit
iful to see him torn Ms dry, croaking
rawhide up and with much, gusto and
■marking of lips drink from U. The
tesmster also had to-be* tied.
at begin. todoKribo tho horrors
* which tbs bmb of that party
L Just as -tha. sun was acting
tfeqr nadMd tho fborth a%$St gap.
Banning through tho dessert was a nar-
now gulch, the headwaters of a stream.
Down into this the men ran as fast as
they could go. Evory one of them was
determined to throw himself bodily into
the water, to drink of it till ho could
drink no more; to sleep in it till morn
ing. They reached the bottom of the
gulch. Thero was tho lied of tho little
creek, but thero was no water in it.
Where the brackish water had been
their feet now kicked np dost The
men turned and looked at ono another.
Each read nothing hut despair in his
neighbor's face. Ono man, a youngster,
began to weep, and tried to drink his
own tears. Another cursed and swore;
one prayed. Most of them threw them
selves upon the ground, weary, hopeless.
"Then Mr. Scovill came up, haring
paused at tho wagons to comfort the
bonnd men and tho rick men with tho
assurance that relief was at hand. lie
took in tho situation at a glance, lie
felt that tho lives of all these men were
in his charge, and he called oat to the
men, 'Some of you run up tho gulch
and some of you down; you will find
somewhere n pocket or sink hole with
water in it. When you find it call
out to us.' So tho men jumped up
and scattered this way and that. Mr.
Scovill, in Ids hands tho buckets which
he had brought down into tho galch to
get water for the in on in tho wagons,
stood waitingand listening, no realised
that the critical moment bad come,
within a few minutes a shout was heard,
they wero saved. If not
"But a shout was heard from up the
gulch. Somo of tho men had fonnd
a deep hollow, and in tbi* wet sand
and gravel. With their hands they
had dug a hole in the ground, and slowly
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water had trickled in. It was brackish
and warm, bnt it was water. Nothing
evor tasted sweeter.
Next morning, by digging a deep
hole in tho crock bed, they managed to
& good oupply of water, and in a
conplo of hours had caught enough to
fill the barrel. The last thing each man
of tho party did was to go to the little
well and drink a long, deep, fond
draught. Then thowngons moved off
over tbo plains. Just in the nick of time
tho thought occurred to Mr. Scovillo
that homo other poor devils might come
along tho trail, strike tho gulch, find it
a dry instead of a wet camp, and de
spair. So he took an empty floor barrel
and scrawled upon it:
WATER
1.000 feat up IS* gulch.
K. T7 Konu,
Chief of Koglnocra.
This he stuck in tb* sand by tbo ride
of tho trail.
"Now tho sccno of my otory from ac
tual life drifts to 8outh America," the
senator went on. "Ten yean after these
occurrence* Mr. Scovill sat in tho par
lors of tho Llama club, Lima, Peru.
Ho had gono to Peru to help Henry
Meigs build thoso wonderful railways in
the mountains. This night ho and a
number of Americans and Englishmen
were chatting together, when Mr. Sco
vill told the story of his journey across
the plains. There was ono man in the
party who was obviously excited. He
could not keep his hands still.
An Mr. Scovill reached tho end of his
story, nnd told bow ho had put up tho
sign that water could bo found a thou-
d feet up tho gulch, tho nervous
stranger, n man of giant frame, leaped
hi* sent and took Scovill in his anus
as if tho Utter had been n child.
'Then you are tho man, are you?* ho
exclaimed; ‘yon are tho man who saved
my life. I wont across tho desert a few
days after yon. I—my companions nnd
I—suffered as yon suffered. On the way
wo killed oar horses and drank their
blood. When wo finally reached the
gulch wo hod just strength enough left
to enable as to crawl down into tho dry
creek bod. There we lay down to die,
when one of tu happened to see your
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IN TBI LLAMA CLUB.
bk*w»l guide post. A thousand feet up
the gulch wo found water. If we hadn't
I should not bo here to-night to take the
hand of the man whose thoughtfulness
oared our Uvea.'
"lam facflktr with the detaflsof this
0< thirst v
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