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Show THE PASSING OF JOE MARY By W. HANSON DURHAM rt (g) by Short Siory fub. Co.) IT WAS hot so scorchingly hot that the very skyline itself seemed to writhe and waver unsteadily iu a maze of undulating heat beyond the wide waste of chaparral and scattered scat-tered sage hush which stretched monotonously mo-notonously away to the westward and the foothills beyond. The man, sprawling listlessly out full length in the scant shade of a scraggly cactus, gasped again and stirred uneasily, then raised himself painfully to his elbow and gazed with fixed and glassy eyes toward the eastern horizon, which seemed only to mock him with its awful sense of utter desolation and loneliness. With a sigh, he reached gropingly about, like a blind man, until his trembling fingers finally found and clutched desperately des-perately at the blistering metal of a battered tin canteen which he lifted hopefully for the last, lingering drop, but only the same empty, hollow gurgle gur-gle greeted his longing lips, and, with a half-muttered curse, he flung it weakly from him and sunk, face downward, down-ward, with wide outstretched arms again, his fingers working and clutching clutch-ing convulsively In the arid alkali dust of the desert. . Overhead, like a blotch against the brazen copper dome of sky, a solitary bird of great size swept lower in slow descending circles, and from out a cleft in the barren ledges a gaunt-limbed gaunt-limbed coyote crept and skulked and stood for a moment in doubtful uncertainty, uncer-tainty, then bared his gleaming teeth In a diabolical grin of anticipation. "Water.! Water!" gasped the man Incoherently. "For the love of God a single drop in this accursed hell 1" and, at his murmurings, the bird and the beast drew closer. The bird hovered hov-ered lower and croaked dismally the beast simply sat back upon his haunches and waited and licked his white fangs with a dry, pink tongue. The party was ntit complete the feast could not begin until Death, the third guest, had come. The man groaned moaningly, and turned his head wearily, wear-ily, and slowly opened his eyes and looked about and saw them there. "O God!" he pleaded, chokingly. "Wait until I'm dead!" and he glared at them with fixed fascination until his fevered eyes seemed to glow aud burn like globes of molten metal in their sunken sockets, and then all reason left him, and with a laughing flcation as he saw the pleading agony In the man's eyes an agony stimulated stimu-lated and aroused anew with aggravation, aggrava-tion, and he stepped closer and spat spitefully Into the upturned, expectant face, then smiled mockingly as he slowly unslung a second canteen and, raising It to his own evil lips, drank long and deep. The trooper's hands worked convulsively convul-sively as he watched the wanton waste of water, and the light of returning re-turning reason grew quick and suddenly sud-denly strong in his eyes, lie felt the power of renewing strength increasing within him, and in desperate frenzy he struggled tottering to li Is feet, and with limbs almost refusing to sustain him, he flung himself swayingly upon the half-breed and tried to tear the tempting tin from his lips. But Joe Mary simply dropped the canteen and seized him stranglingly by the throat aud hurled him reeling weakly back, and drawing his revolver, covered the thirst-tempted, trembling trooper. "All ! You choke light for water eli?" he said, smiling slowly, and he held the dripping canteen nearer. "Yes!" the trooper gasped. "Give me more you devil. Just another drop !" he pleaded pathetically, with wild, crazed eyes.- TheD his hand suddenly sought the butt of the weapon at his hip, as the half-breed shook his head sneeringly. "Y'ou die for water, I guess!" taunted taunt-ed Joe Mary with Intense, savage Instinct. In-stinct. "Mebbe I give one big drink all, then shoot quick eh? Plenty water over there," and he pointed with long, lean arm toward the foothills. "Mebbe I don't give water eh, but go away and no shoot now. You die just as same! Which?" and he leered treacherously forward as he again held the canteen toward the trooper. "Water!" gasped the man still chokingly, and he snatched greedily at the proffered tin and carried it joyfully joy-fully to his lips. The water ran In a gurgling, grateful stream down his parched and swollen throat and oozed tricklingly from the corners of his mouth. Then, when at last the ecstasy was over and the awful, consuming thirst was conquered, he threw aside the empty tin and faced the half-breed's half-breed's still threatening weapon. "Now I'm ready to die. I've had a drink !" he remarked coolly, as he wiped the moisture from his lips and stood still, staggering a little, as the half-breed's eyes glittered and gleamed death to him over the sight of his menacing muzzle. Overhead, the solitary buzzard still circled and looked down from dizzy heights and the coyote still skulked expectantly among the growing shadows shad-ows cf the sand hills. Joe Mary paused, stepped back a pace and again raised his weapon. Thpn iiist ns the muzzle1 srrew sud- oath upon his senseless lips, he fell back indifferent, upon the sand, and the great bird circled closer and the hungry beast crept nearer and sniffed, then lapped at the quiet, upturned face, unafraid. Joe Mary, the hunted half-breed renegade, saw from his shelter behind a clump of withered buffalo grass growing close beside the trail at the base of the foothills, the. circling buzzard and read its meaning, and shading his eyes with a bronze palm, he could see the shape of the prostrate pros-trate trooper who had relentlessly followed fol-lowed him thus far and closely along the trackless trail. The day before, Joe Mary simply grunted gutturally when he had, from long range, shot the soldier's pony denly steady once more, and his bronzed forefinger began to crook closely against the trigger, there came, sharp upon the still desert air, a quick, warning rattle and a subdued hiss at his feet, and with a wild look of abject ab-ject terror in his evil eyes, he leaped quickly aside, and as he did so there was a sudden spurt of flame, followed by a quick puff of smoke and a sharp report, and Joe Mary pitched forward and lay still, face downward, in the alkali dust. "Just a trick of the tongue!" muttered mut-tered the trooper laconically, as he shoved his still smoking weapon back into its holster, and, - climbing weakly upon the dead man's pony, rode off in the direction of the foothills. from his ambush behind a sand hill beside the trail, but when his second shot pierced the trooper's almost empty emp-ty eauteen, he smiled grimly to himself him-self with a greater satisfaction, for he knew the end was now nearer, and accordingly flattened himself out upon the neutral tinted, sun-baked earth, to watch and wait. . . He saw the persistent pioddings of his pursuer, and eyed with precious pleasure his first faltering steps, which grew, as the day lengthened and the heat strengthened, into erratic wanderings. wander-ings. He smiled again iu triumph as he saw the trooper reel and fall then crawl, helpless, gasping and choking, Into the shade of the cacti, back beside be-side the trail. The heart of Joe Mary was now jubilant, and rising cautiously to his feet, he stood for a moment and closely close-ly scanned the fiat eastern horizon, nrnmihip' his stolen nonv firmlv bv the nose, he strode boldly forth back along the barren trail, led on by the long accumulated hatred of his ancestors ances-tors to behold and gloat gloriously at the last lingering touch of the exquisite ex-quisite torture of thirst. The trooper gasped once and gulped greedily at the first touch of tepid moisture which fell tricklingly upon his grateful lips from the canteen of Joe Mary, and with an effort he opened his eyes and struggled slowly to his elbow. All animosity was vanquished van-quished by the conquering, leveling thirst, and he readied blindly out to seize the tin which held more of the . precious fluid, but, with a sickening sneer, the half-breed stepped quickly back and shook it, splashing and tantalizing tan-talizing in its fullness, before his longing long-ing eyes, and then turned it deliberately deliber-ately out upon the absorbing sand. For a moment the trooper simply sat and gasped and gazed in speechless speech-less desire at the sparkling water as it flowed and gushed, a cool, gurgling stream, from the mouth of the upturned up-turned canteen. With a dry, choking sob from a thick, swollen tongue, he lurched suddenly forward and plunged his face and ham's into the momentary mud of moisture, and sucked and lapped at It ravenously, like a beast. Then, as the last drop vanished, he looked longingly up for more. The half-breed gruuted with gratl- |