Page:The Prairie Flower; Or, Adventures In the Far West.djvu/110

THE PRAIRIE FLOWER; OR ridge of green hills. All the extravagant, unspeakable delight of the poor, ship wrecked manner, who has been for days tossed about by the angry elements.without food to save him from starvation, without water to slake his consuming thirst, on beholding, in the last agonies of despair, the green hills of his native land suddenly loom up before him all his unspeakable emotions, I say, were ours; and silently dropping upon our knees, our hearts spoke the gratitude to our All- wise Preserver which our tongues were unable to utter. True, the famished, worn - out mariner might die in sight of land and so might we in view of our haven of rest yet the bare hope of reaching it alive, gave ener gy to our sinking spirits, and strength to our failing limbs.

Again we pressed forward, our now swollen and bloodshot eyes tixed eagerly upon the desired spot, which, like an ignis- fatuus, seemed only to recede to our ad vance. The sun, too, gradually rolling higher and higher, till he reached the ze nith of his glory, and began to descend to ward the west, poured .down his scorching rays (for they seemed scorching to us in the desert), dried up, as it were, the very marrow of our bones, blistered our parch ed and feverish skins, and caused our limbs to swell, till every step became one of pain almost unbearable. All our pre vious sufferings were as nothing, seeming ly, compared to our present; and when vfe reached the bank of a stream, which wound around the base of the hills, the sun had already hid himself for the day, and we sunk down completely exhausted!

Huntly, for the last two or three miles, had shown symptoms of confirmed insani ty had often raved about home, which he declared was just below him in a pool of clear water, which he, being chained to a rock, was not permitted to reach, although dying of thirst and had often turned to me, with much the look of a ravenous beast about to spring upon his prey so that, with the greatest difficulty, in my then

weak state, I had succeeded in getting him to the stream, where, as I said before, we both sunk down in a state of exhaus tion. Had the stream been a mile, or even half a mile farther oft', we -just both have perished in sight of that water which alone could save us. Weak and worn out as I was, I still, thank God! had my senses though sometimes I fancied they were beginning to wander and I knew that for either to indulge his appetite free ly, would be certain to produce death.

As my friend seemed too feeble to move, and as I was in a little better condition though now unable to walk I 'crawled over the ground to the stream, which was not deep, and rolled into it, restraining myself even then from tasting a drop, un til my body was thoroughly soaked, and I felt considerably revived. After a bath of some five minutes, I took a few draughts of the sparkling element, and never in my life experienced such a powerful and speedy change for the better. Almost instantly I felt the life- renewing blood darting through my veins, and I came out of the water, as it were another being.

Hastening to my friend, I partially raised him in my arms, and dragging him to the stream, tumbled him in, taking care to keep a firm hold. In a few minutes I had the satisfaction of seeing him slowly revive. Then scooping up the water with my hand, I placed it to his lips, which he drank eagerly. Gradually his strength and con sciousness returned, and with feelings which none but one in my situation can ever know, I at length heard him exclaim

"Water! water! Thank God! Frank, we are saved!" and falling upon the breast of each other, overcome with emotions of joy, our tears of gratitude were borne a>vaj upon the river which laved our feet

Eating sparingly, ever moistening our food, we at last found our farmer strength much restored; and fording the stream, we threw ourselves upon the grassy earth, and tlept touvdly that night iyx>a Us western