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Show Tfrke Sevge&ntfs Story If hope wore ltinrl, nr fate denierl. Our pack, of all ihoir line the prid. I'nasked thoy pave sagacious love. True ns a pledge of heaven above, These 1 unit) companions of our stress. Crawled at our fret with mute caress, Anil, nerveless in tlie desert's breath. Drank 1 hence the lethal draught of death. All died save one whose royal h recti Onto coursed the moorcs of ancient Tweed, And guarded flocks on heathered plains, These lived again in his strong veins; For days he led the famished pack OVr wilds uniimrrcd hy human track; ; His will the hell of thirst oVrpowcnd, 1 ; His tireless feet, the wastes devoured; !' Reason or instini t both seemed there, ' ! As. nosing the mephitie air, ! "When stars were paling in the night. He .shuffled, whimpering, from our sight. CJhost-like, our last friend went away. . A shadow through dawn's mist. gray; ! And straight the phantom course Avas laid, Towards a time-Avorn. upheaved pra!e, A shard of rib from Mother Karth. Lung sprung before Ihe Judejiu birth; Where, over the eroded ledge. ! "Were m.nts of woven brake and sedge; I And. from the hither shoulder's scarp ? Of crumpled rock of angles sharp. Toured wimpling forth fresh as the dawn, A spring, and pure as Helicon. The air was dead That afternoon wo lost (he trail. Where caleined skeletons were laid .", & In drifted graves" that no man made: , Hut wild Ayinds A er.e the sexton 'ft spade, And from his brazen throne o'erhead, Tlic fierce sun Koweil the smoking sjinds k With fire, wide poured, fmm unseen hands. j A vast hot oven seemed to be, , si Far as our parboiled eyes could see; . Nor shadow of a cloud was thcie. , ' Nor insect fanned the brat bless air; ft Nor anything of flesh ami bone, Save us nd ours. Hut Avhere the gray S) Hot scoria in dead furrows lay. f A III he, fugacious, lizard prone. X Fared in the incandescent dust ; u His mail that erstwhile dazzling shone. 2 Was turned to the dull hue of rust. $ A shoreless sea of restless sand Whose bounds our eyes had vainly sought; Jj A wavclcss sea of blighted land. J That Clod Himself had long forgot. Sj Apparent on our wondering view. ' A mirage of the desert grew; ! And Avhere the sky's hot rim shut down, !j Through dancing air-waM-s somhroiix brown, There, shorcAvanl. tossed a limpid sea, V (ircengirt. but unconl'ined and free; And. strctthing down along the main, ) Were spectral cities of the plain; j And lofty spires, and mosn.ucs, and lowers, Looked down on rare arcadian bowel's; J And ne'er old Hahylon the fair. $ Hung stiiingcr gardens in the air. ( P.nt purblind eyes no longer sonpht c What oft luol disappointment brought; ? And no man eared, in his distress, !' What lay beyond, a league or less; For hope had passed, nor left behind ! A ray, to lisrht the glimmering mind. ;! We only saw the' growing gray ' ' Of mom. and dreamed of those sAveet things ! That memory to the dying brings; !' The trysts of youth, the spangled hills ' Of violets and daffodils; ! The school boy loitering by the way, !'! The oft told tale the lover weaves x In birchen groves of whispering leaves, 'J And all the happiness of yore, That once was ours, but ours no more. But Avhen. ablaze, the risen sun Had scarce Ins dreaded work begun, 2 The collie's eager bay Avas heard. 1 And our dead veins to life Avere stirred; 1 Ami faint was waft the troopers' cheers, The shoutings of the muleteers, 2 And valorous Carlo led the van. It As once before he led the pack O'er wastes iiniuarred by human track, J J To Avhere avc eked life's little span. !!; Full avcII they rode! That morn free spurred, - - With loosen"d rein onr savionrsn-aTne;- As once the bugle's call they heard. . is Ami rode through gory fields tr fame; Is These avIio had mourned our hapless fate, i Worn victims of the desert's hate. O. trood canteen! Xor Rhone bred vine ? Fi'er shed its blood so rich as thine: A draught! O, Ood, and such a draught, 5 For very joy we Avept and laughed; s "We shook our clenched hands at the 9ky, S Our only shroud if we should die; And life came back, a t'cchle spark. ISut a great light, Avheu all Avas dark. K "Where up yon lull the brown path creeps, K To listen to the murmuring stream; K There Carlo, faithful Carlo, sleeps, jj A sleep profound, perchance to dream; j ' There first the morning's purpling rays K Guilds his rude mound Avith radiant light; K There last the lingering glory stays. To bid the fading Avorld Good Night; ? Where he has gone the gathered host, K That fills the dumb brutes' Hall of Fame; X Will find his oavu they loved the most, Beside Abou Ben Adam's name. X A. S. CONDON. Hopeless beyond our feeble reach. The sobbing blue waves lapped ihe be.-iih; ' Fainl on the car nicthouglil I heard, J A'pulsing stream, the song of bird J Saw billowing grasses bending low. j Swept by shadows that change ;md groAV That change and grow, at last, to find ! "Some wayward figment oT the mind T lure ns. disappointed. Adhere J Hope dies a victim 1o despair. With lessening slrength we cried aloud, Aiul from the desert's incubus. j Like ghostly babblings from a shroud. Came our own voices back to us. ( Our horses spent and mad Avith thirst. J Saw. as avc saw, the shimmering title An ocean flowing strong and Avide Neighed )ilious, lilce a human wail. When hearts are stung and helpless fail, Sank one by one and, languorous, died, The most to lose, and yet ihe first. v So waxetl the days, and night's grim froAvn.. ; - Foil, uraiuous and lowering doAvn. - . " .., c And closed a life's most bitter day; For ne'er creeps twilight 's Avilchery, O'er the dry floor of that dead sea. J Paved with ten thousand years of clay; But. sudden as a blown out light. Falls the Mill curtain of the night; And when the stars break into view, They seem to scorch the darkness through, And. flinging to ihe broiling flesh, J The vestments sting the ners es afresh; J With igneous venom that the air, Sifts without mercy everywhere. 0, night of hunger, thirst and pain, Will morning never come again? Alas, the day presages dread. In this Golgotha of the dead. J "We scoop the dust with strenuous hand, ; And waning strength, but sedulous. To know each grain of shifting sand Is but h stone of Sisyphus; , In hours of foil the shalhtAV bowl J Holds less nepenthe for the heart, Than keeps together flesh and soul, Or life and death, an hour apart. Wherever bent the vagrant way, In every hour, or night, or day, |