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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Vanished Arizona, by Martha Summerhayes
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Vanished Arizona
+       Recollections of the Army Life by a New England Woman
+
+Author: Martha Summerhayes
+
+Posting Date: August 7, 2008 [EBook #1049]
+Release Date: September, 1997
+[Last updated: April 8, 2012]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VANISHED ARIZONA ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by A Team of Arizona women
+
+
+
+
+
+VANISHED ARIZONA
+
+Recollections of the Army Life by a New England Woman
+
+
+by Martha Summerhayes
+
+
+
+
+TO MY SON HARRY SUMMERHAYES WHO SHARED THE VICISSITUDES OF MY LIFE IN
+ARIZONA, THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
+
+
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+I have written this story of my army life at the urgent and ceaseless
+request of my children.
+
+For whenever I allude to those early days, and tell to them the tales
+they have so often heard, they always say: "Now, mother, will you write
+these stories for us? Please, mother, do; we must never forget them."
+
+Then, after an interval, "Mother, have you written those stories of
+Arizona yet?" until finally, with the aid of some old letters written
+from those very places (the letters having been preserved, with other
+papers of mine, by an uncle in New England long since dead), I have been
+able to give a fairly connected story.
+
+I have not attempted to commemorate my husband's brave career in the
+Civil War, as I was not married until some years after the close of that
+war, nor to describe the many Indian campaigns in which he took part,
+nor to write about the achievements of the old Eighth Infantry. I leave
+all that to the historian. I have given simply the impressions made upon
+the mind of a young New England woman who left her comfortable home
+in the early seventies, to follow a second lieutenant into the wildest
+encampments of the American army.
+
+Hoping the story may possess some interest for the younger women of the
+army, and possibly for some of our old friends, both in the army and in
+civil life, I venture to send it forth.
+
+POSTCRIPT (second edition).
+
+The appendix to this, the second edition of my book, will tell something
+of the kind manner in which the first edition was received by my friends
+and the public at large.
+
+But as several people had expressed a wish that I should tell more of my
+army experiences I have gone carefully over the entire book, adding some
+detail and a few incidents which had come to my mind later.
+
+I have also been able, with some difficulty and much patient effort,
+to secure several photographs of exceptional interest, which have been
+added to the illustrations.
+
+January, 1911.
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+     PREFACE
+
+     CHAPTER
+     I.      GERMANY AND THE ARMY
+     II.     I JOINED THE ARMY
+     III.    ARMY HOUSE-KEEPING
+     IV.     DOWN THE PACIFIC COAST
+     V.      THE SLUE
+     VI.     UP THE RIO COLORADO
+     VII.    THE MOJAVE DESERT
+     VIII.   LEARNING HOW TO SOLDIER
+     IX.     ACROSS THE MOGOLLONS
+     X.      A PERILOUS ADVENTURE
+     XI.     CAMP APACHE
+     XII.    LIFE AMONGST THE APACHES
+     XIII.   A NEW RECRUIT
+     XIV.    A MEMORABLE JOURNEY
+     XV.     FORDING THE LITTLE COLORADO
+     XVI.    STONEMAN'S LAKE
+     XVII.   THE COLORADO DESERT
+     XVIII.  EHRENBERG ON THE COLORADO
+     XIX.    SUMMER AT EHRENBERG
+     XX.     MY DELIVERER
+     XXI.    WINTER IN EHRENBERG
+     XXII.   RETURN TO THE STATES
+     XXIII.  BACK TO ARIZONA
+     XXIV.   UP THE VALLEY OF THE GILA
+     XXV.    OLD CAMP MACDOWELL
+     XXVI.   A SUDDEN ORDER
+     XXVII.  THE EIGHTH FOOT LEAVES ARIZONA
+     XXVIII. CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA
+     XXIX.   CHANGING STATION
+     XXX.    FORT NIOBRARA
+     XXXI.   SANTA FE
+     XXXII.  TEXAS
+     XXXIII. DAVID'S ISLAND
+
+     APPENDIX
+
+
+
+
+VANISHED ARIZONA
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I. GERMANY AND THE ARMY
+
+The stalwart men of the Prussian army, the Lancers, the Dragoons, the
+Hussars, the clank of their sabres on the pavements, their brilliant
+uniforms, all made an impression upon my romantic mind, and I listened
+eagerly, in the quiet evenings, to tales of Hanover under King George,
+to stories of battles lost, and the entry of the Prussians into the old
+Residenz-stadt; the flight of the King, and the sorrow and chagrin which
+prevailed.
+
+For I was living in the family of General Weste, the former
+stadt-commandant of Hanover, who had served fifty years in the army and
+had accompanied King George on his exit from the city. He was a gallant
+veteran, with the rank of General-Lieutenant, ausser Dienst. A charming
+and dignified man, accepting philosophically the fact that Hanover had
+become Prussian, but loyal in his heart to his King and to old Hanover;
+pretending great wrath when, on the King's birthday, he found yellow
+and white sand strewn before his door, but unable to conceal the joyful
+gleam in his eye when he spoke of it.
+
+The General's wife was the daughter of a burgomaster and had been
+brought up in a neighboring town. She was a dear, kind soul.
+
+The house-keeping was simple, but stately and precise, as befitted
+the rank of this officer. The General was addressed by the servants as
+Excellenz and his wife as Frau Excellenz. A charming unmarried daughter
+lived at home, making, with myself, a family of four.
+
+Life was spent quietly, and every evening, after our coffee (served in
+the living-room in winter, and in the garden in summer), Frau Generalin
+would amuse me with descriptions of life in her old home, and of how
+girls were brought up in her day; how industry was esteemed by her
+mother the greatest virtue, and idleness was punished as the most
+beguiling sin. She was never allowed, she said, to read, even on Sunday,
+without her knitting-work in her hands; and she would often sigh, and
+say to me, in German (for dear Frau Generalin spoke no other tongue),
+"Ach, Martha, you American girls are so differently brought up"; and I
+would say, "But, Frau Generalin, which way do you think is the better?"
+She would then look puzzled, shrug her shoulders, and often say, "Ach!
+times are different I suppose, but my ideas can never change."
+
+Now the dear Frau Generalin did not speak a word of English, and as I
+had had only a few lessons in German before I left America, I had the
+utmost difficulty at first in comprehending what she said. She spoke
+rapidly and I would listen with the closest attention, only to give up
+in despair, and to say, "Gute Nacht," evening after evening, with my
+head buzzing and my mind a blank.
+
+After a few weeks, however, I began to understand everything she said,
+altho' I could not yet write or read the language, and I listened with
+the greatest interest to the story of her marriage with young Lieutenant
+Weste, of the bringing up of her four children, and of the old days in
+Hanover, before the Prussians took possession.
+
+She described to me the brilliant Hanoverian Court, the endless
+festivities and balls, the stately elegance of the old city, and the
+cruel misfortunes of the King. And how, a few days after the King's
+flight, the end of all things came to her; for she was politely
+informed one evening, by a big Prussian major, that she must seek other
+lodgings--he needed her quarters. At this point she always wept, and I
+sympathized.
+
+Thus I came to know military life in Germany, and I fell in love with
+the army, with its brilliancy and its glitter, with its struggles
+and its romance, with its sharp contrasts, its deprivations, and its
+chivalry.
+
+I came to know, as their guest, the best of old military society. They
+were very old-fashioned and precise, and Frau Generalin often told me
+that American girls were too ausgelassen in their manners. She often
+reproved me for seating myself upon the sofa (which was only for old
+people) and also for looking about too much when walking on the streets.
+Young girls must keep their eyes more cast down, looking up only
+occasionally. (I thought this dreadfully prim, as I was eager to see
+everything). I was expected to stop and drop a little courtesy on
+meeting an older woman, and then to inquire after the health of each
+member of the family. It seemed to take a lot of time, but all the other
+girls did it, and there seemed to be no hurry about anything, ever,
+in that elegant old Residenz-stadt. Surely a contrast to our bustling
+American towns.
+
+A sentiment seemed to underlie everything they did. The Emperor meant
+so much to them, and they adored the Empress. A personal feeling, an
+affection, such as I had never heard of in a republic, caused me to stop
+and wonder if an empire were not the best, after all. And one day,
+when the Emperor, passing through Hanover en route, drove down the
+Georgen-strasse in an open barouche and raised his hat as he glanced at
+the sidewalk where I happened to be standing, my heart seemed to stop
+beating, and I was overcome by a most wonderful feeling--a feeling that
+in a man would have meant chivalry and loyalty unto death.
+
+In this beautiful old city, life could not be taken any other than
+leisurely. Theatres with early hours, the maid coming for me with a
+lantern at nine o'clock, the frequent Kaffee-klatsch, the delightful
+afternoon coffee at the Georgen-garten, the visits to the Zoological
+gardens, where we always took our fresh rolls along with our
+knitting-work in a basket, and then sat at a little table in the open,
+and were served with coffee, sweet cream, and butter, by a strapping
+Hessian peasant woman--all so simple, yet so elegant, so peaceful.
+
+We heard the best music at the theatre, which was managed with the same
+precision, and maintained by the Government with the same generosity,
+as in the days of King George. No one was allowed to enter after the
+overture had begun, and an absolute hush prevailed.
+
+The orchestra consisted of sixty or more pieces, and the audience was
+critical. The parquet was filled with officers in the gayest uniforms;
+there were few ladies amongst them; the latter sat mostly in the boxes,
+of which there were several tiers, and as soon as the curtain fell,
+between the acts, the officers would rise, turn around, and level their
+glasses at the boxes. Sometimes they came and visited in the boxes.
+
+As I had been brought up in a town half Quaker, half Puritan, the custom
+of going to the theatre Sunday evenings was rather a questionable one
+in my mind. But I soon fell in with their ways, and found that on Sunday
+evenings there was always the most brilliant audience and the best plays
+were selected. With this break-down of the wall of narrow prejudice, I
+gave up others equally as narrow, and adopted the German customs with my
+whole heart.
+
+I studied the language with unflinching perseverance, for this was the
+opportunity I had dreamed about and longed for in the barren winter
+evenings at Nantucket when I sat poring over Coleridge's translations of
+Schiller's plays and Bayard Taylor's version of Goethe's Faust.
+
+Should I ever read these intelligently in the original?
+
+And when my father consented for me to go over and spend a year and live
+in General Weste's family, there never was a happier or more grateful
+young woman. Appreciative and eager, I did not waste a moment, and my
+keen enjoyment of the German classics repaid me a hundred fold for all
+my industry.
+
+Neither time nor misfortune, nor illness can take from me the memory of
+that year of privileges such as is given few American girls to enjoy,
+when they are at an age to fully appreciate them.
+
+And so completely separated was I from the American and English colony
+that I rarely heard my own language spoken, and thus I lived, ate,
+listened, talked, and even dreamed in German.
+
+There seemed to be time enough to do everything we wished; and, as the
+Franco-Prussian war was just over (it was the year of 1871), and many
+troops were in garrison at Hanover, the officers could always join us at
+the various gardens for after-dinner coffee, which, by the way, was not
+taken in the demi-tasse, but in good generous coffee-cups, with plenty
+of rich cream. Every one drank at least two cups, the officers smoked,
+the women knitted or embroidered, and those were among the pleasantest
+hours I spent in Germany.
+
+The intrusion of unwelcome visitors was never to be feared, as, by
+common consent, the various classes in Hanover kept by themselves, thus
+enjoying life much better than in a country where everybody is striving
+after the pleasures and luxuries enjoyed by those whom circumstances
+have placed above them.
+
+The gay uniforms lent a brilliancy to every affair, however simple.
+Officers were not allowed to appear en civile, unless on leave of
+absence.
+
+I used to say, "Oh, Frau General, how fascinating it all is!" "Hush,
+Martha," she would say; "life in the army is not always so brilliant as
+it looks; in fact, we often call it, over here, 'glaenzendes Elend.'"
+
+These bitter words made a great impression upon my mind, and in after
+years, on the American frontier, I seemed to hear them over and over
+again.
+
+When I bade good-bye to the General and his family, I felt a tightening
+about my throat and my heart, and I could not speak. Life in Germany had
+become dear to me, and I had not known how dear until I was leaving it
+forever.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II. I JOINED THE ARMY
+
+I was put in charge of the captain of the North German Lloyd S. S.
+"Donau," and after a most terrific cyclone in mid-ocean, in which we
+nearly foundered, I landed in Hoboken, sixteen days from Bremen.
+
+My brother, Harry Dunham, met me on the pier, saying, as he took me in
+his arms, "You do not need to tell me what sort of a trip you have had;
+it is enough to look at the ship--that tells the story."
+
+As the vessel had been about given up for lost, her arrival was somewhat
+of an agreeable surprise to all our friends, and to none more so than
+my old friend Jack, a second lieutenant of the United States army, who
+seemed so glad to have me back in America, that I concluded the only
+thing to do was to join the army myself.
+
+A quiet wedding in the country soon followed my decision, and we set
+out early in April of the year 1874 to join his regiment, which was
+stationed at Fort Russell, Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory.
+
+I had never been west of New York, and Cheyenne seemed to me, in
+contrast with the finished civilization of Europe, which I had so
+recently left, the wildest sort of a place.
+
+Arriving in the morning, and alighting from the train, two gallant
+officers, in the uniform of the United States infantry, approached
+and gave us welcome; and to me, the bride, a special "welcome to the
+regiment" was given by each of them with outstretched hands.
+
+Major Wilhelm said, "The ambulance is right here; you must come to our
+house and stay until you get your quarters."
+
+Such was my introduction to the army--and to the army ambulance, in
+which I was destined to travel so many miles.
+
+Four lively mules and a soldier driver brought us soon to the post,
+and Mrs. Wilhelm welcomed us to her pleasant and comfortable-looking
+quarters.
+
+I had never seen an army post in America. I had always lived in places
+which needed no garrison, and the army, except in Germany, was an
+unknown quantity to me.
+
+Fort Russell was a large post, and the garrison consisted of many
+companies of cavalry and infantry. It was all new and strange to me.
+
+Soon after luncheon, Jack said to Major Wilhelm, "Well, now, I must go
+and look for quarters: what's the prospect?"
+
+"You will have to turn some one out," said the Major, as they left the
+house together.
+
+About an hour afterwards they returned, and Jack said, "Well, I have
+turned out Lynch; but," he added, "as his wife and child are away, I do
+not believe he'll care very much."
+
+"Oh," said I, "I'm so sorry to have to turn anybody out!"
+
+The Major and his wife smiled, and the former remarked, "You must not
+have too much sympathy: it's the custom of the service--it's always
+done--by virtue of rank. They'll hate you for doing it, but if you
+don't do it they'll not respect you. After you've been turned out once
+yourself, you will not mind turning others out."
+
+The following morning I drove over to Cheyenne with Mrs. Wilhelm, and
+as I passed Lieutenant Lynch's quarters and saw soldiers removing
+Mrs. Lynch's lares and penates, in the shape of a sewing machine,
+lamp-shades, and other home-like things, I turned away in pity that such
+customs could exist in our service.
+
+To me, who had lived my life in the house in which I was born, moving
+was a thing to be dreaded.
+
+But Mrs. Wilhelm comforted me, and assured me it was not such a serious
+matter after all. Army women were accustomed to it, she said.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III. ARMY HOUSE-KEEPING
+
+Not knowing before I left home just what was needed for house-keeping in
+the army, and being able to gather only vague ideas on the subject from
+Jack, who declared that his quarters were furnished admirably, I
+had taken out with me but few articles in addition to the silver and
+linen-chests.
+
+I began to have serious doubts on the subject of my menage, after
+inspecting the bachelor furnishings which had seemed so ample to my
+husband. But there was so much to be seen in the way of guard mount,
+cavalry drill, and various military functions, besides the drives to
+town and the concerts of the string orchestra, that I had little time to
+think of the practical side of life.
+
+Added to this, we were enjoying the delightful hospitality of the
+Wilhelms, and the Major insisted upon making me acquainted with the
+"real old-fashioned army toddy" several times a day,--a new beverage
+to me, brought up in a blue-ribbon community, where wine-bibbing and
+whiskey drinking were rated as belonging to only the lowest classes.
+To be sure, my father always drank two fingers of fine cognac before
+dinner, but I had always considered that a sort of medicine for a man
+advanced in years.
+
+Taken all in all, it is not to be wondered at if I saw not much in those
+few days besides bright buttons, blue uniforms, and shining swords.
+
+Everything was military and gay and brilliant, and I forgot the very
+existence of practical things, in listening to the dreamy strains of
+Italian and German music, rendered by our excellent and painstaking
+orchestra. For the Eighth Infantry loved good music, and had imported
+its musicians direct from Italy.
+
+This came to an end, however, after a few days, and I was obliged to
+descend from those heights to the dead level of domestic economy.
+
+My husband informed me that the quarters were ready for our occupancy
+and that we could begin house-keeping at once. He had engaged a soldier
+named Adams for a striker; he did not know whether Adams was much of
+a cook, he said, but he was the only available man just then, as the
+companies were up north at the Agency.
+
+Our quarters consisted of three rooms and a kitchen, which formed
+one-half of a double house.
+
+I asked Jack why we could not have a whole house. I did not think I
+could possibly live in three rooms and a kitchen.
+
+"Why, Martha," said he, "did you not know that women are not reckoned
+in at all at the War Department? A lieutenant's allowance of quarters,
+according to the Army Regulations, is one room and a kitchen, a
+captain's allowance is two rooms and a kitchen, and so on up, until a
+colonel has a fairly good house." I told him I thought it an outrage;
+that lieutenants' wives needed quite as much as colonels' wives.
+
+He laughed and said, "You see we have already two rooms over our proper
+allowance; there are so many married officers, that the Government has
+had to stretch a point."
+
+After indulging in some rather harsh comments upon a government which
+could treat lieutenants' wives so shabbily, I began to investigate my
+surroundings.
+
+Jack had placed his furnishings (some lace curtains, camp chairs, and a
+carpet) in the living-room, and there was a forlorn-looking bedstead in
+the bedroom. A pine table in the dining-room and a range in the kitchen
+completed the outfit. A soldier had scrubbed the rough floors with a
+straw broom: it was absolutely forlorn, and my heart sank within me.
+
+But then I thought of Mrs. Wilhelm's quarters, and resolved to try my
+best to make ours look as cheerful and pretty as hers. A chaplain was
+about leaving the post and wished to dispose of his things, so we
+bought a carpet of him, a few more camp chairs of various designs, and a
+cheerful-looking table-cover. We were obliged to be very economical, as
+Jack was a second lieutenant, the pay was small and a little in arrears,
+after the wedding trip and long journey out. We bought white Holland
+shades for the windows, and made the three rooms fairly comfortable and
+then I turned my attention to the kitchen.
+
+Jack said I should not have to buy anything at all; the Quartermaster
+Department furnished everything in the line of kitchen utensils; and, as
+his word was law, I went over to the quartermaster store-house to select
+the needed articles.
+
+After what I had been told, I was surprised to find nothing smaller than
+two-gallon tea-kettles, meat-forks a yard long, and mess-kettles deep
+enough to cook rations for fifty men! I rebelled, and said I would not
+use such gigantic things.
+
+My husband said: "Now, Mattie, be reasonable; all the army women keep
+house with these utensils; the regiment will move soon, and then what
+should we do with a lot of tin pans and such stuff? You know a second
+lieutenant is allowed only a thousand pounds of baggage when he changes
+station." This was a hard lesson, which I learned later.
+
+Having been brought up in an old-time community, where women deferred to
+their husbands in everything, I yielded, and the huge things were sent
+over. I had told Mrs. Wilhelm that we were to have luncheon in our own
+quarters.
+
+So Adams made a fire large enough to roast beef for a company of
+soldiers, and he and I attempted to boil a few eggs in the deep
+mess-kettle and to make the water boil in the huge tea-kettle.
+
+But Adams, as it turned out, was not a cook, and I must confess that my
+own attention had been more engrossed by the study of German auxiliary
+verbs, during the few previous years, than with the art of cooking.
+
+Of course, like all New England girls of that period, I knew how to make
+quince jelly and floating islands, but of the actual, practical side of
+cooking, and the management of a range, I knew nothing.
+
+Here was a dilemma, indeed!
+
+The eggs appeared to boil, but they did not seem to be done when we took
+them off, by the minute-hand of the clock.
+
+I declared the kettle was too large; Adams said he did not understand it
+at all.
+
+I could have wept with chagrin! Our first meal a deux!
+
+I appealed to Jack. He said, "Why, of course, Martha, you ought to know
+that things do not cook as quickly at this altitude as they do down at
+the sea level. We are thousands of feet above the sea here in Wyoming."
+(I am not sure it was thousands, but it was hundreds at least.)
+
+So that was the trouble, and I had not thought of it!
+
+My head was giddy with the glamour, the uniform, the guard-mount, the
+military music, the rarefied air, the new conditions, the new interests
+of my life. Heine's songs, Goethe's plays, history and romance were
+floating through my mind. Is it to be wondered at that I and Adams
+together prepared the most atrocious meals that ever a new husband had
+to eat? I related my difficulties to Jack, and told him I thought
+we should never be able to manage with such kitchen utensils as were
+furnished by the Q. M. D.
+
+"Oh, pshaw! You are pampered and spoiled with your New England
+kitchens," said he; "you will have to learn to do as other army women
+do--cook in cans and such things, be inventive, and learn to do with
+nothing." This was my first lesson in army house-keeping.
+
+After my unpractical teacher had gone out on some official business, I
+ran over to Mrs. Wilhelm's quarters and said, "Will you let me see your
+kitchen closet?"
+
+She assented, and I saw the most beautiful array of tin-ware, shining
+and neat, placed in rows upon the shelves and hanging from hooks on the
+wall.
+
+"So!" I said; "my military husband does not know anything about these
+things;" and I availed myself of the first trip of the ambulance over
+to Cheyenne, bought a stock of tin-ware and had it charged, and made
+no mention of it--because I feared that tin-ware was to be our bone of
+contention, and I put off the evil day.
+
+The cooking went on better after that, but I did not have much
+assistance from Adams.
+
+I had great trouble at first with the titles and the rank: but I soon
+learned that many of the officers were addressed by the brevet title
+bestowed upon them for gallant service in the Civil War, and I began
+to understand about the ways and customs of the army of Uncle Sam. In
+contrast to the Germans, the American lieutenants were not addressed by
+their title (except officially); I learned to "Mr." all the lieutenants
+who had no brevet.
+
+One morning I suggested to Adams that he should wash the front windows;
+after being gone a half hour, to borrow a step-ladder, he entered the
+room, mounted the ladder and began. I sat writing. Suddenly, he
+faced around, and addressing me, said, "Madam, do you believe in
+spiritualism?"
+
+"Good gracious! Adams, no; why do you ask me such a question?"
+
+This was enough; he proceeded to give a lecture on the subject worthy of
+a man higher up on the ladder of this life. I bade him come to an end
+as soon as I dared (for I was not accustomed to soldiers), and suggested
+that he was forgetting his work.
+
+It was early in April, and the snow drifted through the crevices of the
+old dried-out house, in banks upon our bed; but that was soon mended,
+and things began to go smoothly enough, when Jack was ordered to join
+his company, which was up at the Spotted Tail Agency. It was expected
+that the Sioux under this chief would break out at any minute. They had
+become disaffected about some treaty. I did not like to be left alone
+with the Spiritualist, so Jack asked one of the laundresses, whose
+husband was out with the company, to come and stay and take care of
+me. Mrs. Patten was an old campaigner; she understood everything about
+officers and their ways, and she made me absolutely comfortable for
+those two lonely months. I always felt grateful to her; she was a dear
+old Irish woman.
+
+All the families and a few officers were left at the post, and, with the
+daily drive to Cheyenne, some small dances and theatricals, my time was
+pleasantly occupied.
+
+Cheyenne in those early days was an amusing but unattractive frontier
+town; it presented a great contrast to the old civilization I had
+so recently left. We often saw women in cotton wrappers, high-heeled
+slippers, and sun-bonnets, walking in the main streets. Cows, pigs, and
+saloons seemed to be a feature of the place.
+
+In about six weeks, the affairs of the Sioux were settled, and the
+troops returned to the post. The weather began to be uncomfortably hot
+in those low wooden houses. I missed the comforts of home and the fresh
+sea air of the coast, but I tried to make the best of it.
+
+Our sleeping-room was very small, and its one window looked out over the
+boundless prairie at the back of the post. On account of the great heat,
+we were obliged to have this window wide open at night. I heard the
+cries and wails of various animals, but Jack said that was nothing--they
+always heard them.
+
+Once, at midnight, the wails seemed to be nearer, and I was terrified;
+but he told me 'twas only the half-wild cats and coyotes which prowled
+around the post. I asked him if they ever came in. "Gracious, no!" he
+said; "they are too wild."
+
+I calmed myself for sleep--when like lightning, one of the huge
+creatures gave a flying leap in at our window, across the bed, and
+through into the living-room.
+
+"Jerusalem!" cried the lieutenant, and flew after her, snatching his
+sword, which stood in the corner, and poking vigorously under the divan.
+
+I rolled myself under the bed-covers, in the most abject terror lest
+she might come back the same way; and, true enough, she did, with a most
+piercing cry. I never had much rest after that occurrence, as we had no
+protection against these wild-cats.
+
+The regiment, however, in June was ordered to Arizona, that dreaded and
+then unknown land, and the uncertain future was before me. I saw the
+other women packing china and their various belongings. I seemed to be
+helpless. Jack was busy with things outside. He had three large army
+chests, which were brought in and placed before me. "Now," he said, "all
+our things must go into those chests"--and I supposed they must.
+
+I was pitifully ignorant of the details of moving, and I stood
+despairingly gazing into the depths of those boxes, when the jolly
+and stout wife of Major von Hermann passed my window. She glanced in,
+comprehended the situation, and entered, saying, "You do not understand
+how to pack? Let me help you: give me a cushion to kneel upon--now bring
+everything that is to be packed, and I can soon show you how to do it."
+With her kind assistance the chests were packed, and I found that we had
+a great deal of surplus stuff which had to be put into rough cases, or
+rolled into packages and covered with burlap. Jack fumed when he saw it,
+and declared we could not take it all, as it exceeded our allowance of
+weight. I declared we must take it, or we could not exist.
+
+With some concessions on both sides we were finally packed up, and
+left Fort Russell about the middle of June, with the first detachment,
+consisting of head-quarters and band, for San Francisco, over the Union
+Pacific Railroad.
+
+For it must be remembered, that in 1874 there were no railroads in
+Arizona, and all troops which were sent to that distant territory either
+marched over-land through New Mexico, or were transported by steamer
+from San Francisco down the coast, and up the Gulf of California to Fort
+Yuma, from which point they marched up the valley of the Gila to the
+southern posts, or continued up the Colorado River by steamer, to
+other points of disembarkation, whence they marched to the posts in the
+interior, or the northern part of the territory.
+
+Much to my delight, we were allowed to remain over in San Francisco, and
+go down with the second detachment. We made the most of the time, which
+was about a fortnight, and on the sixth of August we embarked with six
+companies of soldiers, Lieutenant Colonel Wilkins in command, on the old
+steamship "Newbern," Captain Metzger, for Arizona.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV. DOWN THE PACIFIC COAST
+
+Now the "Newbern" was famous for being a good roller, and she lived
+up to her reputation. For seven days I saw only the inside of our
+stateroom. At the end of that time we arrived off Cape St. Lucas (the
+extreme southern point of Lower California), and I went on deck.
+
+We anchored and took cattle aboard. I watched the natives tow them off,
+the cattle swimming behind their small boats, and then saw the poor
+beasts hoisted up by their horns to the deck of our ship.
+
+I thought it most dreadfully cruel, but was informed that it had been
+done from time immemorial, so I ceased to talk about it, knowing that
+I could not reform those aged countries, and realizing, faintly perhaps
+(for I had never seen much of the rough side of life), that just as
+cruel things were done to the cattle we consume in the North.
+
+Now that Mr. Sinclair, in his great book "The Jungle," has brought the
+multiplied horrors of the great packing-houses before our very eyes, we
+might witness the hoisting of the cattle over the ship's side without
+feeling such intense pity, admitting that everything is relative, even
+cruelty.
+
+It was now the middle of August, and the weather had become insufferably
+hot, but we were out of the long swell of the Pacific Ocean; we had
+rounded Cape St. Lucas, and were steaming up the Gulf of California,
+towards the mouth of the Great Colorado, whose red and turbulent waters
+empty themselves into this gulf, at its head.
+
+I now had time to become acquainted with the officers of the regiment,
+whom I had not before met; they had come in from other posts and joined
+the command at San Francisco.
+
+The daughter of the lieutenant-colonel was on board, the beautiful and
+graceful Caroline Wilkins, the belle of the regiment; and Major Worth,
+to whose company my husband belonged. I took a special interest in the
+latter, as I knew we must face life together in the wilds of Arizona. I
+had time to learn something about the regiment and its history; and that
+Major Worth's father, whose monument I had so often seen in New York,
+was the first colonel of the Eighth Infantry, when it was organized in
+the State of New York in 1838.
+
+The party on board was merry enough, and even gay. There was Captain
+Ogilby, a great, genial Scotchman, and Captain Porter, a graduate of
+Dublin, and so charmingly witty. He seemed very devoted to Miss Wilkins,
+but Miss Wilkins was accustomed to the devotion of all the officers of
+the Eighth Infantry. In fact, it was said that every young lieutenant
+who joined the regiment had proposed to her. She was most attractive,
+and as she had too kind a heart to be a coquette, she was a universal
+favorite with the women as well as with the men.
+
+There was Ella Bailey, too, Miss Wilkins' sister, with her young and
+handsome husband and their young baby.
+
+Then, dear Mrs. Wilkins, who had been so many years in the army that she
+remembered crossing the plains in a real ox-team. She represented the
+best type of the older army woman--and it was so lovely to see her
+with her two daughters, all in the same regiment. A mother of grown-up
+daughters was not often met with in the army.
+
+And Lieutenant-Colonel Wilkins, a gentleman in the truest sense of
+the word--a man of rather quiet tastes, never happier than when he
+had leisure for indulging his musical taste in strumming all sorts of
+Spanish fandangos on the guitar, or his somewhat marked talent with the
+pencil and brush.
+
+The heat of the staterooms compelled us all to sleep on deck, so our
+mattresses were brought up by the soldiers at night, and spread about.
+The situation, however, was so novel and altogether ludicrous, and our
+fear of rats which ran about on deck so great, that sleep was well-nigh
+out of the question.
+
+Before dawn, we fled to our staterooms, but by sunrise we were glad to
+dress and escape from their suffocating heat and go on deck again.
+Black coffee and hard-tack were sent up, and this sustained us until the
+nine-o'clock breakfast, which was elaborate, but not good. There was no
+milk, of course, except the heavily sweetened sort, which I could not
+use: it was the old-time condensed and canned milk; the meats were
+beyond everything, except the poor, tough, fresh beef we had seen
+hoisted over the side, at Cape St. Lucas. The butter, poor at the
+best, began to pour like oil. Black coffee and bread, and a baked sweet
+potato, seemed the only things that I could swallow.
+
+The heat in the Gulf of California was intense. Our trunks were brought
+up from the vessel's hold, and we took out summer clothing. But how
+inadequate and inappropriate it was for that climate! Our faces burned
+and blistered; even the parting on the head burned, under the awnings
+which were kept spread. The ice-supply decreased alarmingly, the meats
+turned green, and when the steward went down into the refrigerator,
+which was somewhere below the quarter-deck, to get provisions for the
+day, every woman held a bottle of salts to her nose, and the officers
+fled to the forward part of the ship. The odor which ascended from
+that refrigerator was indescribable: it lingered and would not go. It
+followed us to the table, and when we tasted the food we tasted the
+odor. We bribed the steward for ice. Finally, I could not go below at
+all, but had a baked sweet potato brought on deck, and lived several
+days upon that diet.
+
+On the 14th of August we anchored off Mazatlan, a picturesque and
+ancient adobe town in old Mexico. The approach to this port was
+strikingly beautiful. Great rocks, cut by the surf into arches and
+caverns, guarded the entrance to the harbor. We anchored two miles out.
+A customs and a Wells-Fargo boat boarded us, and many natives came along
+side, bringing fresh cocoanuts, bananas, and limes. Some Mexicans bound
+for Guaymas came on board, and a troupe of Japanese jugglers.
+
+While we were unloading cargo, some officers and their wives went on
+shore in one of the ship's boats, and found it a most interesting place.
+It was garrisoned by Mexican troops, uniformed in white cotton shirts
+and trousers. They visited the old hotel, the amphitheatre where the
+bull-fights were held, and the old fort. They told also about the
+cock-pits--and about the refreshing drinks they had.
+
+My thirst began to be abnormal. We bought a dozen cocoanuts, and I drank
+the milk from them, and made up my mind to go ashore at the next port;
+for after nine days with only thick black coffee and bad warm water to
+drink, I was longing for a cup of good tea or a glass of fresh, sweet
+milk.
+
+A day or so more brought us to Guaymas, another Mexican port. Mrs.
+Wilkins said she had heard something about an old Spaniard there,
+who used to cook meals for stray travellers. This was enough. I was
+desperately hungry and thirsty, and we decided to try and find him. Mrs.
+Wilkins spoke a little Spanish, and by dint of inquiries we found the
+man's house, a little old, forlorn, deserted-looking adobe casa.
+
+We rapped vigorously upon the old door, and after some minutes a small,
+withered old man appeared.
+
+Mrs. Wilkins told him what we wanted, but this ancient Delmonico
+declined to serve us, and said, in Spanish, the country was "a desert";
+he had "nothing in the house"; he had "not cooked a meal in years"; he
+could not; and, finally, he would not; and he gently pushed the door to
+in our faces. But we did not give it up, and Mrs. Wilkins continued to
+persuade. I mustered what Spanish I knew, and told him I would pay him
+any price for a cup of coffee with fresh milk. He finally yielded, and
+told us to return in one hour.
+
+So we walked around the little deserted town. I could think only of the
+breakfast we were to have in the old man's casa. And it met and exceeded
+our wildest anticipations, for, just fancy! We were served with a
+delicious boullion, then chicken, perfectly cooked, accompanied by some
+dish flavored with chile verde, creamy biscuit, fresh butter, and golden
+coffee with milk. There were three or four women and several officers in
+the party, and we had a merry breakfast. We paid the old man generously,
+thanked him warmly, and returned to the ship, fortified to endure the
+sight of all the green ducks that came out of the lower hold.
+
+You must remember that the "Newbern" was a small and old propeller,
+not fitted up for passengers, and in those days the great refrigerating
+plants were unheard of. The women who go to the Philippines on our great
+transports of to-day cannot realize and will scarcely believe what we
+endured for lack of ice and of good food on that never-to-be-forgotten
+voyage down the Pacific coast and up the Gulf of California in the
+summer of 1874.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V. THE SLUE
+
+At last, after a voyage of thirteen days, we came to anchor a mile or so
+off Port Isabel, at the mouth of the Colorado River. A narrow but deep
+slue runs up into the desert land, on the east side of the river's
+mouth, and provides a harbor of refuge for the flat-bottomed
+stern-wheelers which meet the ocean steamers at this point. Hurricanes
+are prevalent at this season in the Gulf of California, but we had been
+fortunate in not meeting with any on the voyage. The wind now freshened,
+however, and beat the waves into angry foam, and there we lay for three
+days on the "Newbern," off Port Isabel, before the sea was calm enough
+for the transfer of troops and baggage to the lighters.
+
+This was excessively disagreeable. The wind was like a breath from a
+furnace; it seemed as though the days would never end, and the wind
+never stop blowing. Jack's official diary says: "One soldier died
+to-day."
+
+Finally, on the fourth day, the wind abated, and the transfer was begun.
+We boarded the river steamboat "Cocopah," towing a barge loaded with
+soldiers, and steamed away for the slue. I must say that we welcomed the
+change with delight. Towards the end of the afternoon the "Cocopah" put
+her nose to the shore and tied up. It seemed strange not to see pier
+sand docks, nor even piles to tie to. Anchors were taken ashore and the
+boat secured in that manner: there being no trees of sufficient size to
+make fast to.
+
+The soldiers went into camp on shore. The heat down in that low, flat
+place was intense. Another man died that night.
+
+What was our chagrin, the next morning, to learn that we must go back to
+the "Newbern," to carry some freight from up-river. There was nothing
+to do but stay on board and tow that dreary barge, filled with hot, red,
+baked-looking ore, out to the ship, unload, and go back up the slue.
+Jack's diary records: "Aug. 23rd. Heat awful. Pringle died to-day." He
+was the third soldier to succumb. It seemed to me their fate was a hard
+one. To die, down in that wretched place, to be rolled in a blanket and
+buried on those desert shores, with nothing but a heap of stones to mark
+their graves.
+
+The adjutant of the battalion read the burial service, and the
+trumpeters stepped to the edge of the graves and sounded "Taps," which
+echoed sad and melancholy far over those parched and arid lands. My eyes
+filled with tears, for one of the soldiers was from our own company, and
+had been kind to me.
+
+Jack said: "You mustn't cry, Mattie; it's a soldier's life, and when a
+man enlists he must take his chances."
+
+"Yes, but," I said, "somewhere there must be a mother or sister, or some
+one who cares for these poor men, and it's all so sad to think of."
+
+"Well, I know it is sad," he replied, soothingly, "but listen! It is all
+over, and the burial party is returning."
+
+I listened and heard the gay strains of "The girl I left behind me,"
+which the trumpeters were playing with all their might. "You see," said
+Jack, "it would not do for the soldiers to be sad when one of them
+dies. Why, it would demoralize the whole command. So they play these gay
+things to cheer them up."
+
+And I began to feel that tears must be out of place at a soldier's
+funeral. I attended many a one after that, but I had too much
+imagination, and in spite of all my brave efforts, visions of the poor
+boy's mother on some little farm in Missouri or Kansas perhaps, or in
+some New England town, or possibly in the old country, would come before
+me, and my heart was filled with sadness.
+
+The Post Hospital seemed to me a lonesome place to die in, although the
+surgeon and soldier attendants were kind to the sick men. There were no
+women nurses in the army in those days.
+
+The next day, the "Cocopah" started again and towed a barge out to the
+ship. But the hot wind sprang up and blew fiercely, and we lay off and
+on all day, until it was calm enough to tow her back to the slue. By
+that time I had about given up all hope of getting any farther, and if
+the weather had only been cooler I could have endured with equanimity
+the idle life and knocking about from the ship to the slue, and from
+the slue to the ship. But the heat was unbearable. We had to unpack our
+trunks again and get out heavy-soled shoes, for the zinc which covered
+the decks of these river-steamers burned through the thin slippers we
+had worn on the ship.
+
+That day we had a little diversion, for we saw the "Gila" come down the
+river and up the slue, and tie up directly alongside of us. She had on
+board and in barges four companies of the Twenty-third Infantry, who
+were going into the States. We exchanged greetings and visits, and from
+the great joy manifested by them all, I drew my conclusions as to what
+lay before us, in the dry and desolate country we were about to enter.
+
+The women's clothes looked ridiculously old-fashioned, and I wondered if
+I should look that way when my time came to leave Arizona.
+
+Little cared they, those women of the Twenty-third, for, joy upon joys!
+They saw the "Newbern" out there in the offing, waiting to take them
+back to green hills, and to cool days and nights, and to those they had
+left behind, three years before.
+
+On account of the wind, which blew again with great violence, the
+"Cocopah" could not leave the slue that day. The officers and soldiers
+were desperate for something to do. So they tried fishing, and caught
+some "croakers," which tasted very fresh and good, after all the curried
+and doctored-up messes we had been obliged to eat on board ship.
+
+We spent seven days in and out of that slue. Finally, on August the
+26th, the wind subsided and we started up river. Towards sunset we
+arrived at a place called "Old Soldier's Camp." There the "Gila" joined
+us, and the command was divided between the two river-boats. We were
+assigned to the "Gila," and I settled myself down with my belongings,
+for the remainder of the journey up river.
+
+We resigned ourselves to the dreadful heat, and at the end of two more
+days the river had begun to narrow, and we arrived at Fort Yuma, which
+was at that time the post best known to, and most talked about by army
+officers of any in Arizona. No one except old campaigners knew much
+about any other post in the Territory.
+
+It was said to be the very hottest place that ever existed, and from the
+time we left San Francisco we had heard the story, oft repeated, of the
+poor soldier who died at Fort Yuma, and after awhile returned to beg for
+his blankets, having found the regions of Pluto so much cooler than the
+place he had left. But the fort looked pleasant to us, as we approached.
+It lay on a high mesa to the left of us and there was a little green
+grass where the post was built.
+
+None of the officers knew as yet their destination, and I found myself
+wishing it might be our good fortune to stay at Fort Yuma. It seemed
+such a friendly place.
+
+Lieutenant Haskell, Twelfth Infantry, who was stationed there, came down
+to the boat to greet us, and brought us our letters from home. He then
+extended his gracious hospitality to us all, arranging for us to come to
+his quarters the next day for a meal, and dividing the party as best he
+could accommodate us. It fell to our lot to go to breakfast with Major
+and Mrs. Wells and Miss Wilkins.
+
+An ambulance was sent the next morning, at nine o'clock, to bring us up
+the steep and winding road, white with heat, which led to the fort.
+
+I can never forget the taste of the oatmeal with fresh milk, the eggs
+and butter, and delicious tomatoes, which were served to us in his
+latticed dining-room.
+
+After twenty-three days of heat and glare, and scorching winds,
+and stale food, Fort Yuma and Mr. Haskell's dining-room seemed like
+Paradise.
+
+Of course it was hot; it was August, and we expected it. But the heat
+of those places can be much alleviated by the surroundings. There were
+shower baths, and latticed piazzas, and large ollas hanging in the
+shade of them, containing cool water. Yuma was only twenty days from San
+Francisco, and they were able to get many things direct by steamer. Of
+course there was no ice, and butter was kept only by ingenious devices
+of the Chinese servants; there were but few vegetables, but what was to
+be had at all in that country, was to be had at Fort Yuma.
+
+We staid one more day, and left two companies of the regiment there.
+When we departed, I felt, somehow, as though we were saying good-bye to
+the world and civilization, and as our boat clattered and tugged away
+up river with its great wheel astern, I could not help looking back
+longingly to old Fort Yuma.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI. UP THE RIO COLORADO
+
+And now began our real journey up the Colorado River, that river unknown
+to me except in my early geography lessons--that mighty and untamed
+river, which is to-day unknown except to the explorer, or the few people
+who have navigated its turbulent waters. Back in memory was the picture
+of it on the map; here was the reality, then, and here we were, on the
+steamer "Gila," Captain Mellon, with the barge full of soldiers towing
+on after us, starting for Fort Mojave, some two hundred miles above.
+
+The vague and shadowy foreboding that had fluttered through my mind
+before I left Fort Russell had now also become a reality and crowded out
+every other thought. The river, the scenery, seemed, after all, but an
+illusion, and interested me but in a dreamy sort of way.
+
+We had staterooms, but could not remain in them long at a time, on
+account of the intense heat. I had never felt such heat, and no one else
+ever had or has since. The days were interminable. We wandered around
+the boat, first forward, then aft, to find a cool spot. We hung up our
+canteens (covered with flannel and dipped in water), where they would
+swing in the shade, thereby obtaining water which was a trifle cooler
+than the air. There was no ice, and consequently no fresh provisions. A
+Chinaman served as steward and cook, and at the ringing of a bell we all
+went into a small saloon back of the pilothouse, where the meals were
+served. Our party at table on the "Gila" consisted of several unmarried
+officers, and several officers with their wives, about eight or nine in
+all, and we could have had a merry time enough but for the awful heat,
+which destroyed both our good looks and our tempers. The fare was
+meagre, of course; fresh biscuit without butter, very salt boiled beef,
+and some canned vegetables, which were poor enough in those days. Pies
+made from preserved peaches or plums generally followed this delectable
+course. Chinamen, as we all know, can make pies under conditions that
+would stagger most chefs. They may have no marble pastry-slab, and the
+lard may run like oil, still they can make pies that taste good to the
+hungry traveller.
+
+But that dining-room was hot! The metal handles of the knives were
+uncomfortably warm to the touch; and even the wooden arms of the chairs
+felt as if they were slowly igniting. After a hasty meal, and a few
+remarks upon the salt beef, and the general misery of our lot, we would
+seek some spot which might be a trifle cooler. A siesta was out of the
+question, as the staterooms were insufferable; and so we dragged out the
+weary days.
+
+At sundown the boat put her nose up to the bank and tied up for the
+night. The soldiers left the barges and went into camp on shore, to
+cook their suppers and to sleep. The banks of the river offered no very
+attractive spot upon which to make a camp; they were low, flat, and
+covered with underbrush and arrow-weed, which grew thick to the water's
+edge. I always found it interesting to watch the barge unload the men at
+sundown.
+
+At twilight some of the soldiers came on board and laid our mattresses
+side by side on the after deck. Pajamas and loose gowns were soon en
+evidence, but nothing mattered, as they were no electric lights to
+disturb us with their glare. Rank also mattered not; Lieutenant-Colonel
+Wilkins and his wife lay down to rest, with the captains and lieutenants
+and their wives, wherever their respective strikers had placed their
+mattresses (for this was the good old time when the soldiers were
+allowed to wait upon officers 'families).
+
+Under these circumstances, much sleep was not to be thought of; the
+sultry heat by the river bank, and the pungent smell of the arrow-weed
+which lined the shores thickly, contributed more to stimulate than to
+soothe the weary nerves. But the glare of the sun was gone, and after
+awhile a stillness settled down upon this company of Uncle Sam's
+servants and their followers. (In the Army Regulations, wives are not
+rated except as "camp followers.")
+
+But even this short respite from the glare of the sun was soon to end;
+for before the crack of dawn, or, as it seemed to us, shortly after
+midnight, came such a clatter with the fires and the high-pressure
+engine and the sparks, and what all they did in that wild and reckless
+land, that further rest was impossible, and we betook ourselves with
+our mattresses to the staterooms, for another attempt at sleep, which,
+however, meant only failure, as the sun rose incredibly early on that
+river, and we were glad to take a hasty sponge from a basin of rather
+thick looking river-water, and go again out on deck, where we could
+always get a cup of black coffee from the Chinaman.
+
+And thus began another day of intolerable glare and heat. Conversation
+lagged; no topic seemed to have any interest except the thermometer,
+which hung in the coolest place on the boat; and one day when Major
+Worth looked at it and pronounced it one hundred and twenty-two in the
+shade, a grim despair seized upon me, and I wondered how much more heat
+human beings could endure. There was nothing to relieve the monotony of
+the scenery. On each side of us, low river banks, and nothing between
+those and the horizon line. On our left was Lower [*] California, and on
+our right, Arizona. Both appeared to be deserts.
+
+     * This term is here used (as we used it at Ehrenberg) to
+     designate the low, flat lands west of the river, without any
+     reference to Lower California proper,--the long peninsula
+     belonging to Mexico.
+
+As the river narrowed, however, the trip began to be enlivened by the
+constant danger of getting aground on the shifting sand-bars which are
+so numerous in this mighty river. Jack Mellon was then the most famous
+pilot on the Colorado, and he was very skilful in steering clear of the
+sand-bars, skimming over them, or working his boat off, when once fast
+upon them. The deck-hands, men of a mixed Indian and Mexican race, stood
+ready with long poles, in the bow, to jump overboard, when we struck
+a bar, and by dint of pushing, and reversing the engine, the boat would
+swing off.
+
+On approaching a shallow place, they would sound with their poles, and
+in a sing-song high-pitched tone drawl out the number of feet. Sometimes
+their sleepy drawling tones would suddenly cease, and crying loudly, "No
+alli agua!" they would swing themselves over the side of the boat into
+the river, and begin their strange and intricate manipulations with the
+poles. Then, again, they would carry the anchor away off and by means of
+great spars, and some method too complicated for me to describe, Captain
+Mellon would fairly lift the boat over the bar.
+
+But our progress was naturally much retarded, and sometimes we were
+aground an hour, sometimes a half day or more. Captain Mellon was
+always cheerful. River steamboating was his life, and sand-bars were his
+excitement. On one occasion, I said, "Oh! Captain, do you think we
+shall get off this bar to-day?" "Well, you can't tell," he said, with a
+twinkle in his eye; "one trip, I lay fifty-two days on a bar," and then,
+after a short pause, "but that don't happen very often; we sometimes lay
+a week, though; there is no telling; the bars change all the time."
+
+Sometimes the low trees and brushwood on the banks parted, and a young
+squaw would peer out at us. This was a little diversion, and picturesque
+besides. They wore very short skirts made of stripped bark, and as
+they held back the branches of the low willows, and looked at us with
+curiosity, they made pictures so pretty that I have never forgotten
+them. We had no kodaks then, but even if we had had them, they could not
+have reproduced the fine copper color of those bare shoulders and arms,
+the soft wood colors of the short bark skirts, the gleam of the sun upon
+their blue-black hair, and the turquoise color of the wide bead-bands
+which encircled their arms.
+
+One morning, as I was trying to finish out a nap in my stateroom,
+Jack came excitedly in and said: "Get up, Martha, we are coming to
+Ehrenberg!" Visions of castles on the Rhine, and stories of the
+middle ages floated through my mind, as I sprang up, in pleasurable
+anticipation of seeing an interesting and beautiful place. Alas! for my
+ignorance. I saw but a row of low thatched hovels, perched on the edge
+of the ragged looking river-bank; a road ran lengthwise along, and
+opposite the hovels I saw a store and some more mean-looking huts of
+adobe.
+
+"Oh! Jack!" I cried, "and is that Ehrenberg? Who on earth gave such a
+name to the wretched place?"
+
+"Oh, some old German prospector, I suppose; but never mind, the place
+is all right enough. Come! Hurry up! We are going to stop here and land
+freight. There is an officer stationed here. See those low white walls?
+That is where he lives. Captain Bernard of the Fifth Cavalry. It's quite
+a place; come out and see it."
+
+But I did not go ashore. Of all dreary, miserable-looking settlements
+that one could possibly imagine, that was the worst. An unfriendly,
+dirty, and Heaven-forsaken place, inhabited by a poor class of Mexicans
+and half-breeds. It was, however, an important shipping station for
+freight which was to be sent overland to the interior, and there was
+always one army officer stationed there.
+
+Captain Bernard came on board to see us. I did not ask him how he liked
+his station; it seemed to me too satirical; like asking the Prisoner of
+Chillon, for instance, how he liked his dungeon.
+
+I looked over towards those low white walls, which enclosed the
+Government corral and the habitation of this officer, and thanked my
+stars that no such dreadful detail had come to my husband. I did not
+dream that in less than a year this exceptionally hard fate was to be my
+own.
+
+We left Ehrenberg with no regrets, and pushed on up river.
+
+On the third of September the boilers "foamed" so that we had to tie up
+for nearly a day. This was caused by the water being so very muddy. The
+Rio Colorado deserves its name, for its swift-flowing current sweeps by
+like a mass of seething red liquid, turbulent and thick and treacherous.
+It was said on the river, that those who sank beneath its surface were
+never seen again, and in looking over into those whirlpools and swirling
+eddies, one might well believe this to be true.
+
+From there on, up the river, we passed through great canons and the
+scenery was grand enough; but one cannot enjoy scenery with the mercury
+ranging from 107 to 122 in the shade. The grandeur was quite lost upon
+us all, and we were suffocated by the scorching heat radiating from
+those massive walls of rocks between which we puffed and clattered
+along.
+
+I must confess that the history of this great river was quite unknown to
+me then. I had never read of the early attempts made to explore it, both
+from above and from its mouth, and the wonders of the "Grand Canon" were
+as yet unknown to the world. I did not realize that, as we steamed along
+between those high perpendicular walls of rock, we were really seeing
+the lower end of that great chasm which now, thirty years later, has
+become one of the most famous resorts of this country and, in fact, of
+the world.
+
+There was some mention made of Major Powell, that daring adventurer,
+who, a few years previously, had accomplished the marvellous feat of
+going down the Colorado and through the Grand Canon, in a small boat, he
+being the first man who had at that time ever accomplished it, many men
+having lost their lives in the attempt.
+
+At last, on the 8th of September, we arrived at Camp Mojave, on the
+right bank of the river; a low, square enclosure, on the low level of
+the flat land near the river. It seemed an age since we had left Yuma
+and twice an age since we had left the mouth of the river. But it was
+only eighteen days in all, and Captain Mellon remarked: "A quick trip!"
+and congratulated us on the good luck we had had in not being detained
+on the sandbars. "Great Heavens," I thought, "if that is what they call
+a quick trip!" But I do not know just what I thought, for those eighteen
+days on the Great Colorado in midsummer, had burned themselves into my
+memory, and I made an inward vow that nothing would ever force me into
+such a situation again. I did not stop to really think; I only felt, and
+my only feeling was a desire to get cool and to get out of the Territory
+in some other way and at some cooler season. How futile a wish, and how
+futile a vow!
+
+     Dellenbaugh, who was with Powell in 1869 in his second
+     expedition down the river in small boats, has given to the
+     world a most interesting account of this wonderful river and
+     the canons through which it cuts its tempestuous way to the
+     Gulf of California, in two volumes entitled "The Romance of
+     the Great Colorado" and "A Canon Voyage".
+
+We bade good-bye to our gallant river captain and watched the great
+stern-wheeler as she swung out into the stream, and, heading up river,
+disappeared around a bend; for even at that time this venturesome pilot
+had pushed his boat farther up than any other steam-craft had ever
+gone, and we heard that there were terrific rapids and falls and unknown
+mysteries above. The superstition of centuries hovered over the "great
+cut," and but few civilized beings had looked down into its awful
+depths. Brave, dashing, handsome Jack Mellon! What would I give and
+what would we all give, to see thee once more, thou Wizard of the Great
+Colorado!
+
+We turned our faces towards the Mojave desert, and I wondered, what
+next?
+
+The Post Surgeon kindly took care of us for two days and nights, and we
+slept upon the broad piazzas of his quarters.
+
+We heard no more the crackling and fizzing of the stern-wheeler's
+high-pressure engines at daylight, and our eyes, tired with gazing at
+the red whirlpools of the river, found relief in looking out upon the
+grey-white flat expanse which surrounded Fort Mojave, and merged itself
+into the desert beyond.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII. THE MOJAVE DESERT
+
+Thou white and dried-up sea! so old! So strewn with wealth, so sown
+with gold! Yes, thou art old and hoary white With time and ruin of
+all things, And on thy lonesome borders Night Sits brooding o'er with
+drooping wings.--JOAQUIN MILLER.
+
+
+The country had grown steadily more unfriendly ever since leaving Fort
+Yuma, and the surroundings of Camp Mojave were dreary enough.
+
+But we took time to sort out our belongings, and the officers arranged
+for transportation across the Territory. Some had bought, in San
+Francisco, comfortable travelling-carriages for their families. They
+were old campaigners; they knew a thing or two about Arizona; we
+lieutenants did not know, we had never heard much about this part of our
+country. But a comfortable large carriage, known as a Dougherty wagon,
+or, in common army parlance, an ambulance, was secured for me to travel
+in. This vehicle had a large body, with two seats facing each other, and
+a seat outside for the driver. The inside of the wagon could be closed
+if desired by canvas sides and back which rolled up and down, and by a
+curtain which dropped behind the driver's seat. So I was enabled to have
+some degree of privacy, if I wished.
+
+We repacked our mess-chest, and bought from the Commissary at Mojave the
+provisions necessary for the long journey to Fort Whipple, which was the
+destination of one of the companies and the headquarters officers.
+
+On the morning of September 10th everything in the post was astir with
+preparations for the first march. It was now thirty-five days since we
+left San Francisco, but the change from boat to land travelling offered
+an agreeable diversion after the monotony of the river. I watched with
+interest the loading of the great prairie-schooners, into which went the
+soldiers' boxes and the camp equipage. Outside was lashed a good deal of
+the lighter stuff; I noticed a barrel of china, which looked much like
+our own, lashed directly over one wheel. Then there were the massive
+blue army wagons, which were also heavily loaded; the laundresses with
+their children and belongings were placed in these.
+
+At last the command moved out. It was to me a novel sight. The wagons
+and schooners were each drawn by teams of six heavy mules, while a team
+of six lighter mules was put to each ambulance and carriage. These
+were quite different from the draught animals I had always seen in the
+Eastern States; these Government mules being sleek, well-fed and trained
+to trot as fast as the average carriage-horse. The harnesses were quite
+smart, being trimmed off with white ivory rings. Each mule was "Lize"
+or "Fanny" or "Kate", and the soldiers who handled the lines were
+accustomed to the work; for work, and arduous work, it proved to be, as
+we advanced into the then unknown Territory of Arizona.
+
+The main body of the troops marched in advance; then came the ambulances
+and carriages, followed by the baggage-wagons and a small rear-guard.
+When the troops were halted once an hour for rest, the officers, who
+marched with the soldiers, would come to the ambulances and chat awhile,
+until the bugle call for "Assembly" sounded, when they would join their
+commands again, the men would fall in, the call "Forward" was sounded,
+and the small-sized army train moved on.
+
+The first day's march was over a dreary country; a hot wind blew, and
+everything was filled with dust. I had long ago discarded my hat, as an
+unnecessary and troublesome article; consequently my head wa snow a mass
+of fine white dust, which stuck fast, of course. I was covered from head
+to foot with it, and it would not shake off, so, although our steamboat
+troubles were over, our land troubles had begun.
+
+We reached, after a few hours' travel, the desolate place where we were
+to camp.
+
+In the mean time, it had been arranged for Major Worth, who had no
+family, to share our mess, and we had secured the services of a soldier
+belonging to his company whose ability as a camp cook was known to both
+officers.
+
+I cannot say that life in the army, as far as I had gone, presented any
+very great attractions. This, our first camp, was on the river, a little
+above Hardyville. Good water was there, and that was all; I had not yet
+learned to appreciate that. There was not a tree nor a shrub to give
+shade. The only thing I could see, except sky and sand, was a ruined
+adobe enclosure, with no roof. I sat in the ambulance until our tent was
+pitched, and then Jack came to me, followed by a six-foot soldier, and
+said: "Mattie, this is Bowen, our striker; now I want you to tell him
+what he shall cook for our supper; and--don't you think it would be
+nice if you could show him how to make some of those good New England
+doughnuts? I think Major Worth might like them; and after all the
+awful stuff we have had, you know," et caetera, et caetera. I met the
+situation, after an inward struggle, and said, weakly, "Where are the
+eggs?" "Oh," said he, "you don't need eggs; you're on the frontier now;
+you must learn to do without eggs."
+
+Everything in me rebelled, but still I yielded. You see I had been
+married only six months; the women at home, and in Germany also, had
+always shown great deference to their husbands' wishes. But at that
+moment I almost wished Major Worth and Jack and Bowen and the mess-chest
+at the bottom of the Rio Colorado. However, I nerved myself for the
+effort, and when Bowen had his camp-fire made, he came and called me.
+
+At the best, I never had much confidence in my ability as a cook, but
+as a camp cook! Ah, me! Everything seemed to swim before my eyes, and I
+fancied that the other women were looking at me from their tents. Bowen
+was very civil, turned back the cover of the mess-chest and propped it
+up. That was the table. Then he brought me a tin basin, and some flour,
+some condensed milk, some sugar, and a rolling-pin, and then he hung a
+camp-kettle with lard in it over the fire. I stirred up a mixture in
+the basin, but the humiliation of failure was spared me, for just then,
+without warning, came one of those terrific sandstorms which prevail
+on the deserts of Arizona, blowing us all before it in its fury, and
+filling everything with sand.
+
+We all scurried to the tents; some of them had blown down. There was not
+much shelter, but the storm was soon over, and we stood collecting
+our scattered senses. I saw Mrs. Wilkins at the door of her tent. She
+beckoned to me; I went over there, and she said: "Now, my dear, I am
+going to give you some advice. You must not take it unkindly. I am an
+old army woman and I have made many campaigns with the Colonel; you have
+but just joined the army. You must never try to do any cooking at the
+camp-fire. The soldiers are there for that work, and they know lots more
+about it than any of us do."
+
+"But, Jack," I began--
+
+"Never mind Jack," said she; "he does not know as much as I do about it;
+and when you reach your post," she added, "you can show him what you can
+do in that line."
+
+Bowen cleared away the sandy remains of the doubtful dough, and prepared
+for us a very fair supper. Soldiers' bacon, and coffee, and biscuits
+baked in a Dutch oven.
+
+While waiting for the sun to set, we took a short stroll over to the
+adobe ruins. Inside the enclosure lay an enormous rattlesnake, coiled.
+It was the first one I had ever seen except in a cage, and I was
+fascinated by the horror of the round, grayish-looking heap, so near the
+color of the sand on which it lay. Some soldiers came and killed it.
+But I noticed that Bowen took extra pains that night, to spread buffalo
+robes under our mattresses, and to place around them a hair lariat.
+"Snakes won't cross over that," he said, with a grin.
+
+Bowen was a character. Originally from some farm in Vermont, he had
+served some years with the Eighth Infantry, and for a long time in the
+same company under Major Worth, and had cooked for the bachelors' mess.
+He was very tall, and had a good-natured face, but he did not have much
+opinion of what is known as etiquette, either military or civil; he
+seemed to consider himself a sort of protector to the officers of
+Company K, and now, as well, to the woman who had joined the company.
+He took us all under his wing, as it were, and although he had to be
+sharply reprimanded sometimes, in a kind of language which he seemed to
+expect, he was allowed more latitude than most soldiers.
+
+This was my first night under canvas in the army. I did not like those
+desert places, and they grew to have a horror for me.
+
+At four o'clock in the morning the cook's call sounded, the mules were
+fed, and the crunching and the braying were something to awaken the
+heaviest sleepers. Bowen called us. I was much upset by the dreadful
+dust, which was thick upon everything I touched. We had to hasten our
+toilet, as they were striking tents and breaking camp early, in order
+to reach before noon the next place where there was water. Sitting on
+camp-stools, around the mess-tables, in the open, before the break of
+day, we swallowed some black coffee and ate some rather thick slices
+of bacon and dry bread. The Wilkins' tent was near ours, and I said to
+them, rather peevishly: "Isn't this dust something awful?"
+
+Miss Wilkins looked up with her sweet smile and gentle manner and
+replied: "Why, yes, Mrs. Summerhayes, it is pretty bad, but you must not
+worry about such a little thing as dust."
+
+"How can I help it?" I said; "my hair, my clothes, everything full of
+it, and no chance for a bath or a change: a miserable little basin of
+water and--"
+
+I suppose I was running on with all my grievances, but she stopped me
+and said again: "Soon, now, you will not mind it at all. Ella and I are
+army girls, you know, and we do not mind anything. There's no use in
+fretting about little things."
+
+Miss Wilkins' remarks made a tremendous impression upon my mind and I
+began to study her philosophy.
+
+At break of day the command marched out, their rifles on their
+shoulders, swaying along ahead of us, in the sunlight and the heat,
+which continued still to be almost unendurable. The dry white dust of
+this desert country boiled and surged up and around us in suffocating
+clouds.
+
+I had my own canteen hung up in the ambulance, but the water in it got
+very warm and I learned to take but a swallow at a time, as it could not
+be refilled until we reached the next spring--and there is always some
+uncertainty in Arizona as to whether the spring or basin has gone dry.
+So water was precious, and we could not afford to waste a drop.
+
+At about noon we reached a forlorn mud hut, known as Packwood's ranch.
+But the place had a bar, which was cheerful for some of the poor men,
+as the two days' marches had been rather hard upon them, being so "soft"
+from the long voyage. I could never begrudge a soldier a bit of cheer
+after the hard marches in Arizona, through miles of dust and burning
+heat, their canteens long emptied and their lips parched and dry. I
+watched them often as they marched along with their blanket-rolls, their
+haversacks, and their rifles, and I used to wonder that they did not
+complain.
+
+About that time the greatest luxury in the entire world seemed to me
+to be a glass of fresh sweet milk, and I shall always remember Mr.
+Packwood's ranch, because we had milk to drink with our supper, and some
+delicious quail to eat.
+
+Ranches in that part of Arizona meant only low adobe dwellings occupied
+by prospectors or men who kept the relays of animals for stage routes.
+Wretched, forbidding-looking places they were! Never a tree or a bush to
+give shade, never a sign of comfort or home.
+
+Our tents were pitched near Packwood's, out in the broiling sun. They
+were like ovens; there was no shade, no coolness anywhere; we would have
+gladly slept, after the day's march, but instead we sat broiling in the
+ambulances, and waited for the long afternoon to wear away.
+
+The next day dragged along in the same manner; the command marching
+bravely along through dust and heat and thirst, as Kipling's soldier
+sings:
+
+
+"With its best foot first And the road a-sliding past, An' every
+bloomin' campin'-ground Exactly like the last".
+
+
+Beal's Springs did not differ from the other ranch, except that possibly
+it was even more desolate. But a German lived there, who must have had
+some knowledge of cooking, for I remember that we bought a peach pie
+from him and ate it with a relish. I remember, too, that we gave him a
+good silver dollar for it.
+
+The only other incident of that day's march was the suicide of Major
+Worth's pet dog "Pete." Having exhausted his ability to endure, this
+beautiful red setter fixed his eye upon a distant range of mountains,
+and ran without turning, or heeding any call, straight as the crow
+flies, towards them and death. We never saw him again; a ranchman told
+us he had known of several other instances where a well-bred dog had
+given up in this manner, and attempted to run for the hills. We had a
+large greyhound with us, but he did not desert.
+
+Major Worth was much affected by the loss of his dog, and did not join
+us at supper that night. We kept a nice fat quail for him, however, and
+at about nine o'clock, when all was still and dark, Jack entered the
+Major's tent and said: "Come now, Major, my wife has sent you this nice
+quail; don't give up so about Pete, you know."
+
+The Major lay upon his camp-bed, with his face turned to the wall of his
+tent; he gave a deep sigh, rolled himself over and said: "Well, put it
+on the table, and light the candle; I'll try to eat it. Thank your wife
+for me."
+
+So the Lieutenant made a light, and lo! and behold, the plate was there,
+but the quail was gone! In the darkness, our great kangaroo hound had
+stolen noiselessly upon his master's heels, and quietly removed the
+bird. The two officers were dumbfounded. Major Worth said: "D--n my
+luck;" and turned his face again to the wall of his tent.
+
+Now Major Worth was just the dearest and gentlest sort of a man, but he
+had been born and brought up in the old army, and everyone knows that
+times and customs were different then.
+
+Men drank more and swore a good deal, and while I do not wish my story
+to seem profane, yet I would not describe army life or the officers as
+I knew them, if I did not allow the latter to use an occasional strong
+expression.
+
+The incident, however, served to cheer up the Major, though he continued
+to deplore the loss of his beautiful dog.
+
+For the next two days our route lay over the dreariest and most desolate
+country. It was not only dreary, it was positively hostile in its
+attitude towards every living thing except snakes, centipedes and
+spiders. They seemed to flourish in those surroundings.
+
+Sometimes either Major Worth or Jack would come and drive along a few
+miles in the ambulance with me to cheer me up, and they allowed me to
+abuse the country to my heart's content. It seemed to do me much good.
+The desert was new to me then. I had not read Pierre Loti's wonderful
+book, "Le Desert," and I did not see much to admire in the desolate
+waste lands through which we were travelling. I did not dream of the
+power of the desert, nor that I should ever long to see it again. But
+as I write, the longing possesses me, and the pictures then indelibly
+printed upon my mind, long forgotten amidst the scenes and events of
+half a lifetime, unfold themselves like a panorama before my vision and
+call me to come back, to look upon them once more.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII. LEARNING HOW TO SOLDIER
+
+"The grasses failed, and then a mass Of dry red cactus ruled the land:
+The sun rose right above and fell, As falling molten from the skies, And
+no winged thing was seen to pass." Joaquin Miller.
+
+
+We made fourteen miles the next day, and went into camp at a place
+called Freeze-wash, near some old silver mines. A bare and lonesome
+spot, where there was only sand to be seen, and some black,
+burnt-looking rocks. From under these rocks, crept great tarantulas, not
+forgetting lizards, snakes, and not forgetting the scorpion, which ran
+along with its tail turned up ready to sting anything that came in its
+way. The place furnished good water, however, and that was now the most
+important thing.
+
+The next day's march was a long one. The guides said: "Twenty-eight
+miles to Willow Grove Springs."
+
+The command halted ten minutes every hour for rest, but the sun poured
+down upon us, and I was glad to stay in the ambulance. It was at these
+times that my thoughts turned back to the East and to the blue sea and
+the green fields of God's country. I looked out at the men, who were
+getting pretty well fagged, and at the young officers whose uniforms
+were white with dust, and Frau Weste's words about glaenzendes Elend
+came to my mind. I fell to thinking: was the army life, then, only
+"glittering misery," and had I come to participate in it?
+
+Some of the old soldiers had given out, and had to be put on the army
+wagons. I was getting to look rather fagged and seedy, and was much
+annoyed at my appearance. Not being acquainted with the vicissitudes of
+the desert, I had not brought in my travelling-case a sufficient number
+of thin washbodices. The few I had soon became black beyond recognition,
+as the dust boiled (literally) up and into the ambulance and covered
+me from head to foot. But there was no help for it, and no one was much
+better off.
+
+It was about that time that we began to see the outlines of a great
+mountain away to the left and north of us. It seemed to grow nearer and
+nearer, and fascinated our gaze.
+
+Willow Grove Springs was reached at four o'clock and the small cluster
+of willow trees was most refreshing to our tired eyes. The next day's
+march was over a rolling country. We began to see grass, and to feel
+that, at last, we were out of the desert. The wonderful mountain still
+loomed up large and clear on our left. I thought of the old Spanish
+explorers and wondered if they came so far as this, when they journeyed
+through that part of our country three hundred years before. I wondered
+what beautiful and high-sounding name they might have given it. I
+wondered a good deal about that bare and isolated mountain, rising out
+of what seemed an endless waste of sand. I asked the driver if he knew
+the name of it: "That is Bill Williams' mountain, ma'am," he replied,
+and relapsed into his customary silence, which was unbroken except by an
+occasional remark to the wheelers or the leaders.
+
+I thought of the Harz Mountains, which I had so recently tramped over,
+and the romantic names and legends connected with them, and I sighed to
+think such an imposing landmark as this should have such a prosaic name.
+I realized that Arizona was not a land of romance; and when Jack came
+to the ambulance, I said, "Don't you think it a pity that such monstrous
+things are allowed in America, as to call that great fine mountain 'Bill
+Williams' mountain'?"
+
+"Why no," he said; "I suppose he discovered it, and I dare say he had a
+hard enough time before he got to it."
+
+We camped at Fort Rock, and Lieutenant Bailey shot an antelope. It was
+the first game we had seen; our spirits revived a bit; the sight of
+green grass and trees brought new life to us.
+
+Anvil Rock and old Camp Hualapais were our next two stopping places.
+We drove through groves of oaks, cedars and pines, and the days began
+hopefully and ended pleasantly. To be sure, the roads were very rough
+and our bones ached after a long day's travelling. But our tents were
+now pitched under tall pine trees and looked inviting. Soldiers have a
+knack of making a tent attractive.
+
+"Madame, the Lieutenant's compliments, and your tent is ready."
+
+I then alighted and found my little home awaiting me. The tent-flaps
+tied open, the mattresses laid, the blankets turned back, the camp-table
+with candle-stick upon it, and a couple of camp-chairs at the door of
+the tent. Surely it is good to be in the army I then thought; and after
+a supper consisting of soldiers' hot biscuit, antelope steak broiled
+over the coals, and a large cup of black coffee, I went to rest,
+listening to the soughing of the pines.
+
+My mattress was spread always upon the ground, with a buffalo robe under
+it and a hair lariat around it, to keep off the snakes; as it is said
+they do not like to cross them. I found the ground more comfortable than
+the camp cots which were used by some of the officers, and most of the
+women.
+
+The only Indians we had seen up to that time were the peaceful tribes
+of the Yumas, Cocopahs and Mojaves, who lived along the Colorado. We had
+not yet entered the land of the dread Apache.
+
+The nights were now cool enough, and I never knew sweeter rest than came
+to me in the midst of those pine groves.
+
+Our road was gradually turning southward, but for some days Bill
+Williams was the predominating feature of the landscape; turn whichever
+way we might, still this purple mountain was before us. It seemed to
+pervade the entire country, and took on such wonderful pink colors at
+sunset. Bill Williams held me in thrall, until the hills and valleys in
+the vicinity of Fort Whipple shut him out from my sight. But he seemed
+to have come into my life somehow, and in spite of his name, I loved him
+for the companionship he had given me during those long, hot, weary and
+interminable days.
+
+About the middle of September, we arrived at American ranch, some ten
+miles from Fort Whipple, which was the headquarters station. Colonel
+Wilkins and his family left us, and drove on to their destination. Some
+officers of the Fifth Cavalry rode out to greet us, and Lieutenant Earl
+Thomas asked me to come into the post and rest a day or two at their
+house, as we then had learned that K Company was to march on to Camp
+Apache, in the far eastern part of the Territory.
+
+We were now enabled to get some fresh clothing from our trunks, which
+were in the depths of the prairie-schooners, and all the officers' wives
+were glad to go into the post, where we were most kindly entertained.
+Fort Whipple was a very gay and hospitable post, near the town of
+Prescott, which was the capital city of Arizona. The country being
+mountainous and fertile, the place was very attractive, and I felt sorry
+that we were not to remain there. But I soon learned that in the army,
+regrets were vain. I soon ceased to ask myself whether I was sorry or
+glad at any change in our stations.
+
+On the next day the troops marched in, and camped outside the post. The
+married officers were able to join their wives, and the three days we
+spent there were delightful. There was a dance given, several informal
+dinners, drives into the town of Prescott, and festivities of various
+kinds. General Crook commanded the Department of Arizona then; he was
+out on some expedition, but Mrs. Crook gave a pleasant dinner for us.
+After dinner, Mrs. Crook came and sat beside me, asked kindly about our
+long journey, and added: "I am truly sorry the General is away; I should
+like for him to meet you; you are just the sort of woman he likes." A
+few years afterwards I met the General, and remembering this remark,
+I was conscious of making a special effort to please. The indifferent
+courtesy with which he treated me, however, led me to think that women
+are often mistaken judges of their husband's tastes.
+
+The officers' quarters at Fort Whipple were quite commodious, and after
+seven weeks' continuous travelling, the comforts which surrounded me at
+Mrs. Thomas' home seemed like the veriest luxuries. I was much affected
+by the kindness shown me by people I had never met before, and I
+kept wondering if I should ever have an opportunity to return their
+courtesies. "Don't worry about that, Martha," said Jack, "your turn will
+come."
+
+He proved a true prophet, for sooner or later, I saw them all again,
+and was able to extend to them the hospitality of an army home.
+Nevertheless, my heart grows warm whenever I think of the people who
+first welcomed me to Arizona, me a stranger in the army, and in the
+great southwest as well.
+
+At Fort Whipple we met also some people we had known at Fort Russell,
+who had gone down with the first detachment, among them Major and Mrs.
+Wilhelm, who were to remain at headquarters. We bade good-bye to the
+Colonel and his family, to the officers of F, who were to stay behind,
+and to our kind friends of the Fifth Cavalry.
+
+We now made a fresh start, with Captain Ogilby in command. Two days took
+us into Camp Verde, which lies on a mesa above the river from which it
+takes its name.
+
+Captain Brayton, of the Eight Infantry, and his wife, who were already
+settled at Camp Verde, received us and took the best care of us. Mrs.
+Brayton gave me a few more lessons in army house-keeping, and I could
+not have had a better teacher. I told her about Jack and the tinware;
+her bright eyes snapped, and she said: "Men think they know everything,
+but the truth is, they don't know anything; you go right ahead and have
+all the tinware and other things; all you can get, in fact; and when the
+time comes to move, send Jack out of the house, get a soldier to come in
+and pack you up, and say nothing about it."
+
+"But the weight--"
+
+"Fiddlesticks! They all say that; now you just not mind their talk, but
+take all you need, and it will get carried along, somehow."
+
+Still another company left our ranks, and remained at Camp Verde. The
+command was now getting deplorably small, I thought, to enter an Indian
+country, for we were now to start for Camp Apache. Several routes were
+discussed, but, it being quite early in the autumn, and the Apache
+Indians being just then comparatively quiet, they decided to march the
+troops over Crook's Trail, which crossed the Mogollon range and was
+considered to be shorter than any other. It was all the same to me. I
+had never seen a map of Arizona, and never heard of Crook's Trail.
+Maps never interested me, and I had not read much about life in the
+Territories. At that time, the history of our savage races was a blank
+page to me. I had been listening to the stories of an old civilization,
+and my mind did not adjust itself readily to the new surroundings.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX. ACROSS THE MOGOLLONS
+
+It was a fine afternoon in the latter part of September, when our small
+detachment, with Captain Ogilby in command, marched out of Camp Verde.
+There were two companies of soldiers, numbering about a hundred men
+in all, five or six officers, Mrs. Bailey and myself, and a couple
+of laundresses. I cannot say that we were gay. Mrs. Bailey had said
+good-bye to her father and mother and sister at Fort Whipple, and
+although she was an army girl, she did not seem to bear the parting very
+philosophically. Her young child, nine months old, was with her, and
+her husband, as stalwart and handsome an officer as ever wore
+shoulder-straps. But we were facing unknown dangers, in a far country,
+away from mother, father, sister and brother--a country infested with
+roving bands of the most cruel tribe ever known, who tortured before
+they killed. We could not even pretend to be gay.
+
+The travelling was very difficult and rough, and both men and animals
+were worn out by night. But we were now in the mountains, the air was
+cool and pleasant, and the nights so cold that we were glad to have a
+small stove in our tents to dress by in the mornings. The scenery was
+wild and grand; in fact, beyond all that I had ever dreamed of; more
+than that, it seemed so untrod, so fresh, somehow, and I do not suppose
+that even now, in the day of railroads and tourists, many people have
+had the view of the Tonto Basin which we had one day from the top of the
+Mogollon range.
+
+I remember thinking, as we alighted from our ambulances and stood
+looking over into the Basin, "Surely I have never seen anything to
+compare with this--but oh! would any sane human being voluntarily go
+through with what I have endured on this journey, in order to look upon
+this wonderful scene?"
+
+The roads had now become so difficult that our wagon-train could not
+move as fast as the lighter vehicles or the troops. Sometimes at a
+critical place in the road, where the ascent was not only dangerous, but
+doubtful, or there was, perhaps, a sharp turn, the ambulances waited to
+see the wagons safely over the pass. Each wagon had its six mules; each
+ambulance had also its quota of six.
+
+At the foot of one of these steep places, the wagons would halt, the
+teamsters would inspect the road, and calculate the possibilities of
+reaching the top; then, furiously cracking their whips, and pouring
+forth volley upon volley of oaths, they would start the team. Each mule
+got its share of dreadful curses. I had never heard or conceived of
+any oaths like those. They made my blood fairly curdle, and I am not
+speaking figuratively. The shivers ran up and down my back, and I half
+expected to see those teamsters struck down by the hand of the Almighty.
+
+For although the anathemas hurled at my innocent head, during
+the impressionable years of girlhood, by the pale and determined
+Congregational ministers with gold-bowed spectacles, who held forth
+in the meeting-house of my maternal ancestry (all honor to their
+sincerity), had taken little hold upon my mind, still, the vital drop
+of the Puritan was in my blood, and the fear of a personal God and His
+wrath still existed, away back in the hidden recesses of my heart.
+
+This swearing and lashing went on until the heavily-loaded
+prairie-schooner, swaying, swinging, and swerving to the edge of the
+cut, and back again to the perpendicular wall of the mountain, would
+finally reach the top, and pass on around the bend; then another would
+do the same. Each teamster had his own particular variety of oaths, each
+mule had a feminine name, and this brought the swearing down to a sort
+of personal basis. I remonstrated with Jack, but he said: teamsters
+always swore; "the mules wouldn't even stir to go up a hill, if they
+weren't sworn at like that."
+
+By the time we had crossed the great Mogollon mesa, I had become
+accustomed to those dreadful oaths, and learned to admire the skill,
+persistency and endurance shown by those rough teamsters. I actually
+got so far as to believe what Jack had told me about the swearing being
+necessary, for I saw impossible feats performed by the combination.
+
+When near camp, and over the difficult places, we drove on ahead and
+waited for the wagons to come in. It was sometimes late evening before
+tents could be pitched and supper cooked. And oh! to see the poor jaded
+animals when the wagons reached camp! I could forget my own discomfort
+and even hunger, when I looked at their sad faces.
+
+One night the teamsters reported that a six-mule team had rolled down
+the steep side of a mountain. I did not ask what became of the poor
+faithful mules; I do not know, to this day. In my pity and real distress
+over the fate of these patient brutes, I forgot to inquire what boxes
+were on the unfortunate wagon.
+
+We began to have some shooting. Lieutenant Bailey shot a young deer,
+and some wild turkeys, and we could not complain any more of the lack of
+fresh food.
+
+It did not surprise us to learn that ours was the first wagon-train
+to pass over Crook's Trail. For miles and miles the so-called road was
+nothing but a clearing, and we were pitched and jerked from side to side
+of the ambulance, as we struck large rocks or tree-stumps; in some steep
+places, logs were chained to the rear of the ambulance, to keep it from
+pitching forward onto the backs of the mules. At such places I got out
+and picked my way down the rocky declivity.
+
+We now began to hear of the Apache Indians, who were always out, in
+either large or small bands, doing their murderous work.
+
+One day a party of horseman tore past us at a gallop. Some of them
+raised their hats to us as they rushed past, and our officers recognized
+General Crook, but we could not, in the cloud of dust, distinguish
+officers from scouts. All wore the flannel shirt, handkerchief tied
+about the neck, and broad campaign hat.
+
+After supper that evening, the conversation turned upon Indians in
+general, and Apaches in particular. We camped always at a basin, or a
+tank, or a hole, or a spring, or in some canon, by a creek. Always from
+water to water we marched. Our camp that night was in the midst of a
+primeval grove of tall pine trees; verily, an untrodden land. We had a
+big camp-fire, and sat around it until very late. There were only five
+or six officers, and Mrs. Bailey and myself.
+
+The darkness and blackness of the place were uncanny. We all sat looking
+into the fire. Somebody said, "Injuns would not have such a big fire as
+that."
+
+"No; you bet they wouldn't," was the quick reply of one of the officers.
+
+Then followed a long pause; we all sat thinking, and gazing into the
+fire, which crackled and leaped into fitful blazes.
+
+"Our figures must make a mighty good outline against that fire,"
+remarked one of officers, nonchalantly; "I dare say those stealthy sons
+of Satan know exactly where we are at this minute," he added.
+
+"Yes, you bet your life they do!" answered one of the younger men,
+lapsing into the frontiersman's language, from the force of his
+convictions.
+
+"Look behind you at those trees, Jack," said Major Worth. "Can you see
+anything? No! And if there were an Apache behind each one of them, we
+should never know it."
+
+We all turned and peered into the black darkness which surrounded us.
+
+Another pause followed; the silence was weird--only the cracking of the
+fire was heard, and the mournful soughing of the wind in the pines.
+
+Suddenly, a crash! We started to our feet and faced around.
+
+"A dead branch," said some one.
+
+Major Worth shrugged his shoulders, and turning to Jack, said, in a low
+tone, "D---- d if I don't believe I'm getting nervous," and saying "good
+night," he walked towards his tent.
+
+No element of doubt pervaded my mind as to my own state. The weird
+feeling of being up in those remote mountain passes, with but a handful
+of soldiers against the wary Apaches, the mysterious look of those black
+tree-trunks, upon which flickered the uncertain light of the camp-fire
+now dying, and from behind each one of which I imagined a red devil
+might be at that moment taking aim with his deadly arrow, all inspired
+me with fear such as I had never before known.
+
+In the cyclone which had overtaken our good ship in mid-Atlantic, where
+we lay tossing about at the mercy of the waves for thirty-six long
+hours, I had expected to yield my body to the dark and grewsome depths
+of the ocean. I had almost felt the cold arms of Death about me; but
+compared to the sickening dread of the cruel Apache, my fears then had
+been as naught. Facing the inevitable at sea, I had closed my eyes and
+said good-bye to Life. But in this mysterious darkness, every nerve,
+every sense, was keenly alive with terror.
+
+Several of that small party around the camp-fire have gone from amongst
+us, but I venture to say that, of the few who are left, not one will deny
+that he shared in the vague apprehension which seized upon us.
+
+Midnight found us still lingering around the dead ashes of the fire.
+After going to our tent, Jack saw that I was frightened. He said: "Don't
+worry, Martha, an Apache never was known to attack in the night," and
+after hearing many repetitions of this assertion, upon which I made him
+take his oath, I threw myself upon the bed. After our candle was out, I
+said: "When do they attack?" Jack who, with the soldiers' indifference
+to danger, was already half asleep, replied: "Just before daylight,
+usually, but do not worry, I say; there aren't any Injuns in this
+neighborhood. Why! Didn't you meet General Crook to-day? You ought to
+have some sense. If there'd been an Injun around here he would have
+cleaned him out. Now go to sleep and don't be foolish." But I was taking
+my first lessons in campaigning, and sleep was not so easy.
+
+Just before dawn, as I had fallen into a light slumber, the flaps of the
+tent burst open, and began shaking violently to and fro. I sprang to my
+feet, prepared for the worst. Jack started up: "What is it?" he cried.
+
+"It must have been the wind, I think, but it frightened me," I murmured.
+The Lieutenant fastened the tent-flaps together, and lay down to sleep
+again; but my heart beat fast, and I listened for every sound.
+
+The day gradually dawned, and with it my fears of the night were
+allayed. But ever after that, Jack's fatal answer, "Just before
+daylight," kept my eyes wide open for hours before the dawn.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X. A PERILOUS ADVENTURE
+
+One fine afternoon, after a march of twenty-two miles over a rocky road,
+and finding our provisions low, Mr. Bailey and Jack went out to shoot
+wild turkeys. As they shouldered their guns and walked away. Captain
+Ogilby called out to them, "Do not go too far from camp."
+
+Jack returned at sundown with a pair of fine turkeys! but Bailey failed
+to come in. However, as they all knew him to be an experienced woodsman,
+no one showed much anxiety until darkness had settled over the camp.
+Then they began to signal, by discharging their rifles; the officers
+went out in various directions, giving "halloos," and firing at
+intervals, but there came no sound of the missing man.
+
+The camp was now thoroughly alarmed. This was too dangerous a place
+for a man to be wandering around in all night, and search-parties
+of soldiers were formed. Trees were burned, and the din of rifles,
+constantly discharged, added to the excitement. One party after another
+came in. They had scoured the country--and not a trace of Bailey.
+
+The young wife sat in her tent, soothing her little child; everybody
+except her, gave up hope; the time dragged on; our hearts grew heavy;
+the sky was alight with blazing trees.
+
+I went into Mrs. Bailey's tent. She was calm and altogether lovely, and
+said: "Charley can't get lost, and unless something has happened to him,
+he will come in."
+
+Ella Bailey was a brave young army woman; she was an inspiration to the
+entire camp.
+
+Finally, after hours of the keenest anxiety, a noise of gladsome shouts
+rang through the trees, and in came a party of men with the young
+officer on their shoulders. His friend Craig had been untiring in the
+search, and at last had heard a faint "halloo" in the distance, and one
+shot (the only cartridge poor Bailey had left).
+
+After going over almost impassable places, they finally found him, lying
+at the bottom of a ravine. In the black darkness of the evening, he had
+walked directly over the edge of the chasm and fallen to the bottom,
+dislocating his ankle.
+
+He was some miles from camp, and had used up all his ammunition except
+the one cartridge. He had tried in vain to walk or even crawl out of
+the ravine, but had finally been overcome by exhaustion and lay there
+helpless, in the wild vastnesses of the mountains.
+
+A desperate situation, indeed! Some time afterwards, he told me how he
+felt, when he realized how poor his chances were, when he saw he had
+only one cartridge left and found that he had scarce strength to answer
+a "halloo," should he hear one. But soldiers never like to talk much
+about such things.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI. CAMP APACHE
+
+By the fourth of October we had crossed the range, and began to see
+something which looked like roads. Our animals were fagged to a state
+of exhaustion, but the travelling was now much easier and there was good
+grazing, and after three more long day's marches, we arrived at Camp
+Apache. We were now at our journey's end, after two months' continuous
+travelling, and I felt reasonably sure of shelter and a fireside for the
+winter at least. I knew that my husband's promotion was expected, but
+the immediate present was filled with an interest so absorbing, that a
+consideration of the future was out of the question.
+
+At that time (it was the year of 1874) the officers' quarters at Camp
+Apache were log cabins, built near the edge of the deep canon through
+which the White Mountain River flows, before its junction with Black
+River.
+
+We were welcomed by the officers of the Fifth Cavalry, who were
+stationed there. It was altogether picturesque and attractive. In
+addition to the row of log cabins, there were enormous stables and
+Government buildings, and a cutler's store. We were entertained for
+a day or two, and then quarters were assigned to us. The second
+lieutenants had rather a poor choice, as the quarters were scarce. We
+were assigned a half of a log cabin, which gave us one room, a small
+square hall, and a bare shed, the latter detached from the house, to be
+used for a kitchen. The room on the other side of the hall was occupied
+by the Post Surgeon, who was temporarily absent.
+
+Our things were unloaded and brought to this cabin. I missed the barrel
+of china, and learned that it had been on the unfortunate wagon which
+rolled down the mountain-side. I had not attained that state of mind
+which came to me later in my army life. I cared then a good deal about
+my belongings, and the annoyance caused by the loss of our china was
+quite considerable. I knew there was none to be obtained at Camp Apache,
+as most of the merchandise came in by pack-train to that isolated place.
+
+Mrs. Dodge, of the Twenty-third Infantry, who was about to leave the
+post, heard of my predicament, and offered me some china plates and
+cups, which she thought not worth the trouble of packing (so she said),
+and I was glad to accept them, and thanked her, almost with tears in my
+eyes.
+
+Bowen nailed down our one carpet over the poor board floor (after having
+first sprinkled down a thick layer of clean straw, which he brought from
+the quartermaster stables). Two iron cots from the hospital were brought
+over, and two bed-sacks filled with fresh, sweet straw, were laid upon
+them; over these were laid our mattresses. Woven-wire springs were then
+unheard of in that country.
+
+We untied our folding chairs, built a fire on the hearth, captured an
+old broken-legged wash-stand and a round table from somewhere, and that
+was our living-room. A pine table was found for the small hall, which
+was to be our dinning-room, and some chairs with raw-hide seats were
+brought from the barracks, some shelves knocked up against one wall, to
+serve as sideboard. Now for the kitchen!
+
+A cooking-stove and various things were sent over from the Q. M.
+store-house, and Bowen (the wonder of it!) drove in nails, and hung up
+my Fort Russell tin-ware, and put up shelves and stood my pans in rows,
+and polished the stove, and went out and stole a table somewhere (Bowen
+was invaluable in that way), polished the zinc under the stove, and lo!
+and behold, my army kitchen! Bowen was indeed a treasure; he said he
+would like to cook for us, for ten dollars a month. We readily accepted
+this offer. There were no persons to be obtained, in these distant
+places, who could do the cooking in the families of officers, so it
+was customary to employ a soldier; and the soldier often displayed
+remarkable ability in the way of cooking, in some cases, in fact, more
+than in the way of soldiering. They liked the little addition to their
+pay, if they were of frugal mind; they had also their own quiet room
+to sleep in, and I often thought the family life, offering as it did a
+contrast to the bareness and desolation of the noisy barracks, appealed
+to the domestic instinct, so strong in some men's natures. At all
+events, it was always easy in those days to get a man from the company,
+and they sometimes remained for years with an officer's family; in some
+cases attending drills and roll-calls besides.
+
+Now came the unpacking of the chests and trunks. In our one diminutive
+room, and small hall, was no closet, there were no hooks on the bare
+walls, no place to hang things or lay things, and what to do I did not
+know. I was in despair; Jack came in, to find me sitting on the edge of
+a chest, which was half unpacked, the contents on the floor. I was very
+mournful, and he did not see why.
+
+"Oh! Jack! I've nowhere to put things!"
+
+"What things?" said this impossible man.
+
+"Why, all our things," said I, losing my temper; "can't you see them?''
+
+"Put them back in the chests,--and get them out as you need them,"
+said this son of Mars, and buckled on his sword. "Do the best you can,
+Martha, I have to go to the barracks; be back again soon." I looked
+around me, and tried to solve the problem. There was no bureau, nothing;
+not a nook or corner where a thing might be stowed. I gazed at the
+motley collection of bed-linen, dust-pans, silver bottles, boot
+jacks, saddles, old uniforms, full dress military hats, sword-belts,
+riding-boots, cut glass, window-shades, lamps, work-baskets, and books,
+and I gave it up in despair. You see, I was not an army girl, and I did
+not know how to manage.
+
+There was nothing to be done, however, but to follow Jack's advice, so
+I threw the boots, saddles and equipments under the bed, and laid the
+other things back in the chests, closed the lids and went out to take a
+look at the post. Towards evening, a soldier came for orders for beef,
+and I learned how to manage that. I was told that we bought our meats
+direct from the contractor; I had to state how much and what cuts I
+wished. Another soldier came to bring us milk, and I asked Jack who was
+the milkman, and he said, blessed if he knew; I learned, afterwards,
+that the soldiers roped some of the wild Texas cows that were kept in
+one of the Government corrals, and tied them securely to keep them
+from kicking; then milked them, and the milk was divided up among the
+officers' families, according to rank. We received about a pint every
+night. I declared it was not enough; but I soon discovered that however
+much education, position and money might count in civil life, rank
+seemed to be the one and only thing in the army, and Jack had not much
+of that just then.
+
+The question of getting settled comfortably still worried me, and
+after a day of two, I went over to see what Mrs. Bailey had done. To my
+surprise, I found her out playing tennis, her little boy asleep in the
+baby-carriage, which they had brought all the way from San Francisco,
+near the court. I joined the group, and afterwards asked her advice
+about the matter. She laughed kindly, and said: "Oh! you'll get used to
+it, and things will settle themselves. Of course it is troublesome,
+but you can have shelves and such things--you'll soon learn," and still
+smiling, she gave her ball a neat left-hander.
+
+I concluded that my New England bringing up had been too serious, and
+wondered if I had made a dreadful mistake in marrying into the army, or
+at least in following my husband to Arizona. I debated the question with
+myself from all sides, and decided then and there that young army wives
+should stay at home with their mothers and fathers, and not go into such
+wild and uncouth places. I thought my decision irrevocable.
+
+Before the two small deep windows in our room we hung some Turkey red
+cotton, Jack built in his spare moments a couch for me, and gradually
+our small quarters assumed an appearance of comfort. I turned my
+attention a little to social matters. We dined at Captain Montgomery's
+(the commanding officer's) house; his wife was a famous Washington
+beauty. He had more rank, consequently more rooms, than we had, and
+their quarters were very comfortable and attractive.
+
+There was much that was new and interesting at the post. The Indians who
+lived on this reservation were the White Mountain Apaches, a fierce and
+cruel tribe, whose depredations and atrocities had been carried on for
+years, in and around, and, indeed, far away from their mountain homes.
+But this tribe was now under surveillance of the Government, and guarded
+by a strong garrison of cavalry and infantry at Camp Apache. They were
+divided into bands, under Chiefs Pedro, Diablo, Patone and Cibiano;
+they came into the post twice a week to be counted, and to receive their
+rations of beef, sugar, beans, and other staples, which Uncle Sam's
+commissary officer issued to them.
+
+In the absence of other amusement, the officers' wives walked over to
+witness this rather solemn ceremony. At least, the serious expression on
+the faces of the Indians, as they received their rations, gave an air of
+solemnity to the proceeding.
+
+Large stakes were driven into the ground; at each stake, sat or stood
+the leader of a band; a sort of father to his people; then the rest
+of them stretched out in several long lines, young bucks and old ones,
+squaws and pappooses, the families together, about seventeen hundred
+souls in all. I used to walk up and down between the lines, with the
+other women, and the squaws looked at our clothes and chuckled, and
+made some of their inarticulate remarks to each other. The bucks looked
+admiringly at the white women, especially at the cavalry beauty, Mrs.
+Montgomery, although I thought that Chief Diablo cast a special eye at
+our young Mrs. Bailey, of the infantry.
+
+Diablo was a handsome fellow. I was especially impressed by his
+extraordinary good looks.
+
+This tribe was quiet at that time, only a few renegades escaping into
+the hills on their wild adventures: but I never felt any confidence in
+them and was, on the whole, rather afraid of them. The squaws were shy,
+and seldom came near the officers' quarters. Some of the younger girls
+were extremely pretty; they had delicate hands, and small feet encased
+in well-shaped moccasins. They wore short skirts made of stripped bark,
+which hung gracefully about their bare knees and supple limbs, and
+usually a sort of low-necked camisa, made neatly of coarse, unbleached
+muslin, with a band around the neck and arms, and, in cold weather a
+pretty blanket was wrapped around their shoulders and fastened at the
+breast in front. In summer the blanket was replaced by a square of
+bright calico. Their coarse, black hair hung in long braids in front
+over each shoulder, and nearly all of them wore an even bang or fringe
+over the forehead. Of course hats were unheard of. The Apaches, both men
+and women, had not then departed from the customs of their ancestors,
+and still retained the extraordinary beauty and picturesqueness of their
+aboriginal dress. They wore sometimes a fine buckskin upper garment, and
+if of high standing in the tribe, necklaces of elks teeth.
+
+The young lieutenants sometimes tried to make up to the prettiest
+ones, and offered them trinkets, pretty boxes of soap, beads, and small
+mirrors (so dear to the heart of the Indian girl), but the young maids
+were coy enough; it seemed to me they cared more for men of their own
+race.
+
+Once or twice, I saw older squaws with horribly disfigured faces. I
+supposed it was the result of some ravaging disease, but I learned that
+it was the custom of this tribe, to cut off the noses of those women who
+were unfaithful to their lords. Poor creatures, they had my pity, for
+they were only children of Nature, after all, living close to the earth,
+close to the pulse of their mother. But this sort of punishment seemed
+to be the expression of the cruel and revengeful nature of the Apache.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII. LIFE AMONGST THE APACHES
+
+Bowen proved to be a fairly good cook, and I ventured to ask people to
+dinner in our little hall dining-room, a veritable box of a place. One
+day, feeling particularly ambitious to have my dinner a success, I
+made a bold attempt at oyster patties. With the confidence of youth and
+inexperience, I made the pastry, and it was a success; I took a can of
+Baltimore oysters, and did them up in a fashion that astonished myself,
+and when, after the soup, each guest was served with a hot oyster patty,
+one of the cavalry officers fairly gasped. "Oyster patty, if I'm alive!
+Where on earth--Bless my stars! And this at Camp Apache!"
+
+"And by Holy Jerusalem! they are good, too," claimed Captain Reilly, and
+turning to Bowen, he said: "Bowen, did you make these?"
+
+Bowen straightened himself up to his six foot two, clapped his heels
+together, and came to "attention," looked straight to the front, and
+replied: "Yes, sir."
+
+I thought I heard Captain Reilly say in an undertone to his neighbor,
+"The hell he did," but I was not sure.
+
+At that season, we got excellent wild turkeys there, and good Southdown
+mutton, and one could not complain of such living.
+
+But I could never get accustomed to the wretched small space of one room
+and a hall; for the kitchen, being detached, could scarcely be counted
+in. I had been born and brought up in a spacious house, with plenty
+of bedrooms, closets, and an immense old-time garret. The forlorn
+makeshifts for closets, and the absence of all conveniences, annoyed
+me and added much to the difficulties of my situation. Added to this, I
+soon discovered that my husband had a penchant for buying and collecting
+things which seemed utterly worthless to me, and only added to the
+number of articles to be handled and packed away. I begged him to
+refrain, and to remember that he was married, and that we had not the
+money to spend in such ways. He really did try to improve, and denied
+himself the taking of many an alluring share in raffles for old saddles,
+pistols, guns, and cow-boy's stuff, which were always being held at the
+sutler's store.
+
+But an auction of condemned hospital stores was too much for him, and
+he came in triumphantly one day, bringing a box of antiquated dentist's
+instruments in his hand.
+
+"Good gracious!" I cried, "what can you ever do with those forceps?"
+
+"Oh! they are splendid," he said, "and they will come in mighty handy
+some time."
+
+I saw that he loved tools and instruments, and I reflected, why not?
+There are lots of things I have a passion for, and love, just as he
+loves those things and I shall never say any more about it. "Only," I
+added, aloud, "do not expect me to pack up such trash when we come to
+move; you will have to look out for it yourself."
+
+So with that spiteful remark from me, the episode of the forceps was
+ended, for the time at least.
+
+As the winter came on, the isolation of the place had a rather
+depressing effect upon us all. The officers were engaged in their
+various duties: drill, courts-martial, instruction, and other military
+occupations. They found some diversion at "the store," where the
+ranchmen assembled and told frontier stories and played exciting games
+of poker. Jack's duties as commissary officer kept him much away from
+me, and I was very lonely.
+
+The mail was brought in twice a week by a soldier on horseback. When he
+failed to come in at the usual time, much anxiety was manifested, and I
+learned that only a short time before, one of the mail-carriers had
+been killed by Indians and the mail destroyed. I did not wonder that on
+mail-day everybody came out in front of the quarters and asked: "Is the
+mail-carrier in?" And nothing much was done or thought of on that day,
+until we saw him come jogging in, the mail-bag tied behind his saddle.
+Our letters were from two to three weeks old. The eastern mail came
+via Santa Fe to the terminus of the railroad, and then by stage; for
+in 1874, the railroads did not extend very far into the Southwest. At
+a certain point on the old New Mexico road, our man met the San Carlos
+carrier, and received the mail for Apache.
+
+"I do not understand," I said, "how any soldier can be found to take
+such a dangerous detail."
+
+"Why so?" said Jack. "They like it."
+
+"I should think that when they got into those canons and narrow defiles,
+they would think of the horrible fate of their predecessor," said I.
+
+"Perhaps they do," he answered; "but a soldier is always glad to get a
+detail that gives him a change from the routine of post life."
+
+I was getting to learn about the indomitable pluck of our soldiers. They
+did not seem to be afraid of anything. At Camp Apache my opinion of the
+American soldier was formed, and it has never changed. In the long
+march across the Territory, they had cared for my wants and performed
+uncomplainingly for me services usually rendered by women. Those were
+before the days of lineal promotion. Officers remained with their
+regiments for many years. A feeling of regimental prestige held officers
+and men together. I began to share that feeling. I knew the names of the
+men in the company, and not one but was ready to do a service for the
+"Lieutenant's wife." "K" had long been a bachelor company; and now a
+young woman had joined it. I was a person to be pampered and cared for,
+and they knew besides that I was not long in the army.
+
+During that winter I received many a wild turkey and other nice things
+for the table, from the men of the company. I learned to know and to
+thoroughly respect the enlisted man of the American army.
+
+And now into the varied kaleidoscope of my army life stepped the Indian
+Agent. And of all unkempt, unshorn, disagreeable-looking personages who
+had ever stepped foot into our quarters, this was the worst.
+
+"Heaven save us from a Government which appoints such men as that to
+watch over and deal with Indians," cried I, as he left the house. "Is it
+possible that his position here demands social recognition?" I added.
+
+"Hush!" said the second lieutenant of K company. "It's the Interior
+Department that appoints the Indian Agents, and besides," he added,
+"it's not good taste on your part, Martha, to abuse the Government which
+gives us our bread and butter."
+
+"Well, you can say what you like, and preach policy all you wish, no
+Government on earth can compel me to associate with such men as those!"
+With that assertion, I left the room, to prevent farther argument.
+
+And I will here add that in my experience on the frontier, which
+extended over a long period, it was never my good fortune to meet with
+an Indian Agent who impressed me as being the right sort of a man to
+deal with those children of nature, for Indians are like children, and
+their intuitions are keen. They know and appreciate honesty and fair
+dealing, and they know a gentleman when they meet one.
+
+The winter came on apace, but the weather was mild and pleasant. One
+day some officers came in and said we must go over to the "Ravine" that
+evening, where the Indians were going to have a rare sort of a dance.
+
+There was no one to say to me: "Do not go," and, as we welcomed any
+little excitement which would relieve the monotony of our lives, we cast
+aside all doubts of the advisability of my going. So, after dinner, we
+joined the others, and sallied forth into the darkness of an Arizona
+night. We crossed the large parade-ground, and picked our way over a
+rough and pathless country, lighted only by the stars above.
+
+Arriving at the edge of the ravine, what a scene was before us! We
+looked down into a natural amphitheatre, in which blazed great fires;
+hordes of wild Apaches darted about, while others sat on logs beating
+their tomtoms.
+
+I was afraid, and held back, but the rest of the party descended into
+the ravine, and, leaning on a good strong arm, I followed. We all sat
+down on the great trunk of a fallen tree, and soon the dancers came into
+the arena.
+
+They were entirely naked, except for the loin-cloth; their bodies were
+painted, and from their elbows and knees stood out bunches of feathers,
+giving them the appearance of huge flying creatures; jingling things
+were attached to their necks and arms. Upon their heads were large
+frames, made to resemble the branching horns of an elk, and as they
+danced, and bowed their heads, the horns lent them the appearance of
+some unknown animal, and added greatly to their height. Their feathers
+waved, their jingles shook, and their painted bodies twisted and turned
+in the light of the great fire, which roared and leaped on high. At
+one moment they were birds, at another animals, at the next they were
+demons.
+
+The noise of the tomtoms and the harsh shouts of the Indians grew wilder
+and wilder. It was weird and terrifying. Then came a pause; the arena
+was cleared, and with much solemnity two wicked-looking creatures came
+out and performed a sort of shadow dance, brandishing knives as they
+glided through the intricate figures.
+
+It was a fascinating but unearthly scene, and the setting completed the
+illusion. Fright deprived me of the power of thought, but in a sort of
+subconscious way I felt that Orpheus must have witnessed just such
+mad revels when he went down into Pluto's regions. Suddenly the shouts
+became war whoops, the demons brandished their knives madly, and nodded
+their branching horns; the tomtoms were beaten with a dreadful din, and
+terror seized my heart. What if they be treacherous, and had lured our
+small party down into this ravine for an ambush! The thing could well
+be, I thought. I saw uneasiness in the faces of the other women, and
+by mutual consent we got up and slowly took our departure. I barely had
+strength to climb up the steep side of the hollow. I was thankful to
+escape from its horrors.
+
+Scarce three months after that some of the same band of Indians fired
+into the garrison and fled to the mountains. I remarked to Jack, that I
+thought we were very imprudent to go to see that dance, and he said he
+supposed we were. But I had never regarded life in such a light way as
+he seemed to.
+
+Women usually like to talk over their trials and their wonderful
+adventures, and that is why I am writing this, I suppose. Men simply
+will not talk about such things.
+
+The cavalry beauty seemed to look at this frontier life
+philosophically--what she really thought about it, I never knew. Mrs.
+Bailey was so much occupied by the care of her young child and various
+out-door amusements, that she did not, apparently, think much about
+things that happened around us. At all events, she never seemed inclined
+to talk about them. There was no one else to talk to; the soil was
+strange, and the atmosphere a foreign one to me; life did not seem to
+be taken seriously out there, as it was back in New England, where they
+always loved to sit down and talk things over. I was downright lonesome
+for my mother and sisters.
+
+I could not go out very much at that time, so I occupied myself a good
+deal with needle-work.
+
+One evening we heard firing across the canon. Jack caught up his sword,
+buckling on his belt as he went out. "Injuns fighting on the other side
+of the river," some soldier reported. Finding that it did not concern
+us, Jack said, "Come out into the back yard, Martha, and look over the
+stockade, and I think you can see across the river." So I hurried out to
+the stockade, but Jack, seeing that I was not tall enough, picked up
+an empty box that stood under the window of the room belonging to the
+Doctor, when, thud! fell something out onto the ground, and rolled away.
+I started involuntarily. It was dark in the yard. I stood stock still.
+"What was that?" I whispered.
+
+"Nothing but an old Edam cheese," said this true-hearted soldier of
+mine. I knew it was not a cheese, but said no more. I stood up on the
+box, watched the firing like a man, and went quietly back into the
+quarters. After retiring, I said, "You might just a swell tell me now,
+you will have to sooner or later, what was in the box--it had a dreadful
+sound, as it rolled away on the ground."
+
+"Well," said he, "if you must know, it was an Injun's head that the
+Doctor had saved, to take to Washington with him. It had a sort of a
+malformed skull or jaw-bone or something. But he left it behind--I guess
+it got a leetle to old for him to carry," he laughed. "Somebody told me
+there was a head in the yard, but I forgot all about it. Lucky thing you
+didn't see it, wasn't it? I suppose you'd been scared--well, I must tell
+the fatigue party to-morrow to take it away. Now don't let me forget
+it," and this soldier of many battles fell into the peaceful slumber
+which comes to those who know not fear.
+
+The next day I overheard him telling Major Worth what had happened,
+and adding that he would roast that Doctor if he ever came back. I
+was seeing the rugged side of life, indeed, and getting accustomed to
+shocks.
+
+Now the cavalry beauty gave a dinner. It was lovely; but in the midst of
+it, we perceived a sort of confusion of moccasined footsteps outside
+the dining-room. My nerves were, by this time, always on the alert.
+I glanced through the large door opening out into the hall, and saw
+a group of Indian scouts; they laid a coffee-sack down by the corner
+fire-place, near the front door. The commanding officer left the table
+hastily; the portiere was drawn.
+
+I had heard tales of atrocious cruelties committed by a band of Indians
+who had escaped from the reservation and were ravaging the country
+around. I had heard how they maimed poor sheep and cut off the legs of
+cattle at the first joint, leaving them to die; how they tortured women,
+and burned their husbands and children before their eyes; I had heard
+also that the Indian scouts were out after them, with orders to bring
+them in, dead or alive.
+
+The next day I learned that the ringleader's head was in the bag that I
+had seen, and that the others had surrendered and returned. The scouts
+were Apaches in the pay of the Government, and I always heard that, as
+long as they were serving as scouts, they showed themselves loyal and
+would hunt down their nearest relative.
+
+Major Worth got tired of the monotony of a bachelor's life at Camp
+Apache and decided to give a dance in his quarters, and invite the
+chiefs. I think the other officers did not wholly approve of it,
+although they felt friendly enough towards them, as long as they were
+not causing disturbances. But to meet the savage Apache on a basis of
+social equality, in an officer's quarters, and to dance in a quadrille
+with him! Well, the limit of all things had been reached!
+
+However, Major Worth, who was actually suffering from the ennui of
+frontier life in winter, and in time of peace, determined to carry out
+his project, so he had his quarters, which were quite spacious, cleared
+and decorated with evergreen boughs. From his company, he secured some
+men who could play the banjo and guitar, and all the officers and their
+wives, and the chiefs with their harems, came to this novel fete. A
+quadrille was formed, in which the chiefs danced opposite the officers.
+The squaws sat around, as they were too shy to dance. These chiefs were
+painted, and wore only their necklaces and the customary loin-cloth,
+throwing their blankets about their shoulders when they had finished
+dancing. I noticed again Chief Diablo's great good looks.
+
+Conversation was carried on principally by signs and nods, and through
+the interpreter (a white man named Cooley). Besides, the officers had
+picked up many short phrases of the harsh and gutteral Apache tongue.
+
+Diablo was charmed with the young, handsome wife of one of the officers,
+and asked her husband how many ponies he would take for her, and Pedro
+asked Major Worth, if all those white squaws belonged to him.
+
+The party passed off pleasantly enough, and was not especially
+subversive to discipline, although I believe it was not repeated.
+
+Afterwards, long afterwards, when we were stationed at David's Island,
+New York Harbor, and Major Worth was no longer a bachelor, but a
+dignified married man and had gained his star in the Spanish War,
+we used to meet occasionally down by the barge office or taking a
+Fenster-promenade on Broadway, and we would always stand awhile and chat
+over the old days at Camp Apache in '74. Never mind how pressing our
+mutual engagements were, we could never forego the pleasure of talking
+over those wild days and contrasting them with our then present
+surroundings. "Shall you ever forget my party?" he said, the last time
+we met.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII. A NEW RECRUIT
+
+In January our little boy arrived, to share our fate and to gladden our
+hearts. As he was the first child born to an officer's family in Camp
+Apache, there was the greatest excitement. All the sheep-ranchers and
+cattlemen for miles around came into the post. The beneficent canteen,
+with its soldiers' and officers' clubrooms did not exist then. So they
+all gathered at the sutler's store, to celebrate events with a round of
+drinks. They wanted to shake hands with and congratulate the new father,
+after their fashion, upon the advent of the blond-haired baby. Their
+great hearts went out to him, and they vied with each other in doing the
+handsome thing by him, in a manner according to their lights, and their
+ideas of wishing well to a man; a manner, sometimes, alas! disastrous in
+its results to the man! However, by this time, I was getting used to all
+sides of frontier life.
+
+I had no time to be lonely now, for I had no nurse, and the only person
+who was able to render me service was a laundress of the Fifth Cavalry,
+who came for about two hours each day, to give the baby his bath and
+to arrange things about the bed. I begged her to stay with me, but, of
+course, I knew it was impossible.
+
+So here I was, inexperienced and helpless, alone in bed, with an infant
+a few days old. Dr. Loring, our excellent Post Surgeon, was both kind
+and skillful, but he was in poor health and expecting each day to
+be ordered to another station. My husband was obliged to be at the
+Commissary Office all day, issuing rations to troops and scouts, and
+attending to the duties of his position.
+
+But, realizing in a measure the utter helplessness of my situation, he
+sent a soldier up to lead a wire cord through the thick wall at the head
+of my bed and out through the small yard into the kitchen. To this they
+attached a big cow-bell, so, by making some considerable effort to reach
+up and pull this wire, I could summon Bowen, that is, if Bowen happened
+to be there. But Bowen seemed always to be out at drill or over at the
+company quarters, and frequently my bell brought no response. When he
+did come, however, he was just as kind and just as awkward as it was
+possible for a great big six-foot farmer-soldier to be.
+
+But I grew weaker and weaker with trying to be strong, and one day
+when Jack came in and found both the baby and myself crying, he said,
+man-like, "What's the matter?" I said, "I must have some one to take
+care of me, or we shall both die."
+
+He seemed to realize that the situation was desperate, and mounted men
+were sent out immediately in all directions to find a woman.
+
+At last, a Mexican girl was found in a wood-chopper's camp, and was
+brought to me. She was quite young and very ignorant and stupid, and
+spoke nothing but a sort of Mexican "lingo," and did not understand a
+word of English. But I felt that my life was saved; and Bowen fixed up
+a place on the couch for her to sleep, and Jack went over to the
+unoccupied room on the other side of the cabin and took possession of
+the absent doctor's bed.
+
+I begged Jack to hunt up a Spanish dictionary, and fortunately one
+was found at the sutler's store, which, doubtless the sutler or his
+predecessor had brought into the country years before.
+
+The girl did not know anything. I do not think she had ever been inside
+a casa before. She had washed herself in mountain streams, and did not
+know what basins and sponges were for. So it was of no use to point to
+the objects I wanted.
+
+I propped myself up in bed and studied the dictionary, and, having some
+idea of the pronunciation of Latin languages, I essayed to call for warm
+water and various other necessary articles needed around a sick bed.
+Sometimes I succeeded in getting an idea through her impervious brain,
+but more often she would stand dazed and immovable and I would let the
+dictionary drop from my tired hands and fall back upon the pillow in a
+sweat of exhaustion. Then Bowen would be called in, and with the help of
+some perfunctory language and gestures on his part, this silent creature
+of the mountains would seem to wake up and try to understand.
+
+And so I worried through those dreadful days--and the nights! Ah! we had
+better not describe them. The poor wild thing slept the sleep of death
+and could not hear my loudest calls nor desperate shouts.
+
+So Jack attached a cord to her pillow, and I would tug and tug at that
+and pull the pillow from under her head. It was of no avail. She slept
+peacefully on, and it seemed to me, as I lay there staring at her, that
+not even Gabriel's trump would ever arouse her.
+
+In desperation I would creep out of bed and wait upon myself and then
+confess to Jack and the Doctor next day.
+
+Well, we had to let the creature go, for she was of no use, and the
+Spanish dictionary was laid aside.
+
+I struggled along, fighting against odds; how I ever got well at all is
+a wonder, when I think of all the sanitary precautions taken now-a-days
+with young mothers and babies. The Doctor was ordered away and another
+one came. I had no advice or help from any one. Calomel or quinine are
+the only medicines I remember taking myself or giving to my child.
+
+But to go back a little. The seventh day after the birth of the baby, a
+delegation of several squaws, wives of chiefs, came to pay me a formal
+visit. They brought me some finely woven baskets, and a beautiful
+pappoose-basket or cradle, such as they carry their own babies in. This
+was made of the lightest wood, and covered with the finest skin of
+fawn, tanned with birch bark by their own hands, and embroidered in blue
+beads; it was their best work. I admired it, and tried to express to
+them my thanks. These squaws took my baby (he was lying beside me on the
+bed), then, cooing and chuckling, they looked about the room, until they
+found a small pillow, which they laid into the basket-cradle, then put
+my baby in, drew the flaps together, and laced him into it; then stood
+it up, and laid it down, and laughed again in their gentle manner, and
+finally soothed him to sleep. I was quite touched by the friendliness of
+it all. They laid the cradle on the table and departed. Jack went out
+to bring Major Worth in, to see the pretty sight, and as the two entered
+the room, Jack pointed to the pappoose-basket.
+
+Major Worth tip-toed forward, and gazed into the cradle; he did not
+speak for some time; then, in his inimitable way, and half under his
+breath, he said, slowly, "Well, I'll be d--d!" This was all, but when he
+turned towards the bedside, and came and shook my hand, his eyes shone
+with a gentle and tender look.
+
+And so was the new recruit introduced to the Captain of Company K.
+
+And now there must be a bath-tub for the baby. The sutler rummaged his
+entire place, to find something that might do. At last, he sent me a
+freshly scoured tub, that looked as if it might, at no very remote date,
+have contained salt mackerel marked "A One." So then, every morning at
+nine o'clock, our little half-window was black with the heads of the
+curious squaws and bucks, trying to get a glimpse of the fair baby's
+bath. A wonderful performance, it appeared to them.
+
+Once a week this room, which was now a nursery combined with bedroom and
+living-room, was overhauled by the stalwart Bowen. The baby was put to
+sleep and laced securely into the pappoose-basket. He was then carried
+into the kitchen, laid on the dresser, and I sat by with a book or
+needle-work watching him, until Bowen had finished the room. On one of
+these occasions, I noticed a ledger lying upon one of the shelves. I
+looked into it, and imagine my astonishment, when I read: "Aunt Hepsey's
+Muffins," "Sarah's Indian Pudding," and on another page, "Hasty's Lemon
+Tarts," "Aunt Susan's Method of Cooking a Leg of Mutton," and "Josie
+Well's Pressed Calf Liver." Here were my own, my very own family
+recipes, copied into Bowen's ledger, in large illiterate characters;
+and on the fly-leaf, "Charles Bowen's Receipt Book." I burst into a good
+hearty laugh, almost the first one I had enjoyed since I arrived at Camp
+Apache.
+
+The long-expected promotion to a first lieutenancy came at about
+this time. Jack was assigned to a company which was stationed at Camp
+MacDowell, but his departure for the new post was delayed until the
+spring should be more advanced and I should be able to undertake the
+long, rough trip with our young child.
+
+The second week in April, my baby just nine weeks old, we began to pack
+up. I had gained a little in experience, to be sure, but I had lost my
+health and strength. I knew nothing of the care of a young infant, and
+depended entirely upon the advice of the Post Surgeon, who happened at
+that time to be a young man, much better versed in the sawing off of
+soldiers' legs than in the treatment of young mothers and babies.
+
+The packing up was done under difficulties, and with much help from our
+faithful Bowen. It was arranged for Mrs. Bailey, who was to spend the
+summer with her parents at Fort Whipple, to make the trip at the same
+time, as our road to Camp MacDowell took us through Fort Whipple. There
+were provided two ambulances with six mules each, two baggage-wagons, an
+escort of six calvarymen fully armed, and a guide. Lieutenant Bailey was
+to accompany his wife on the trip.
+
+I was genuinely sorry to part with Major Worth, but in the excitement
+and fatigue of breaking up our home, I had little time to think of my
+feelings. My young child absorbed all my time. Alas! for the ignorance
+of young women, thrust by circumstances into such a situation! I had
+miscalculated my strength, for I had never known illness in my life,
+and there was no one to tell me any better. I reckoned upon my superbly
+healthy nature to bring me through. In fact, I did not think much about
+it; I simply got ready and went, as soldiers do.
+
+I heard them say that we were not to cross the Mogollon range, but were
+to go to the north of it, ford the Colorado Chiquito at Sunset Crossing,
+and so on to Camp Verde and Whipple Barracks by the Stoneman's Lake
+road. It sounded poetic and pretty. Colorado Chiquito, Sunset Crossing,
+and Stoneman's Lake road! I thought to myself, they were prettier than
+any of the names I had heard in Arizona.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV. A MEMORABLE JOURNEY
+
+How broken plunged the steep descent! How barren! Desolate and rent By
+earthquake shock, the land lay dead, Like some proud king in old-time
+slain. An ugly skeleton, it gleamed In burning sands. The fiery rain
+Of fierce volcanoes here had sown Its ashes. Burnt and black and seamed
+With thunder-strokes and strewn With cinders. Yea, so overthrown, That
+wilder men than we had said, On seeing this, with gathered breath, "We
+come on the confines of death!"--JOAQUIN MILLER.
+
+
+Six good cavalrymen galloped along by our side, on the morning of April
+24th, 1875, as with two ambulances, two army wagons, and a Mexican
+guide, we drove out of Camp Apache at a brisk trot.
+
+The drivers were all armed, and spare rifles hung inside the ambulances.
+I wore a small derringer, with a narrow belt filled with cartridges. An
+incongruous sight, methinks now, it must have been. A young mother, pale
+and thin, a child of scarce three months in her arms, and a pistol belt
+around her waist!
+
+I scarcely looked back at Camp Apache. We had a long day's march before
+us, and we looked ahead. Towards night we made camp at Cooley's ranch,
+and slept inside, on the floor. Cooley was interpreter and scout, and
+although he was a white man, he had married a young Indian girl, the
+daughter of one of the chiefs and was known as a squaw man. There
+seemed to be two Indian girls at his ranch; they were both tidy and
+good-looking, and they prepared us a most appetizing supper.
+
+The ranch had spaces for windows, covered with thin unbleached muslin
+(or manta, as it is always called out there), glass windows being then
+too great a luxury in that remote place. There were some partitions
+inside the ranch, but no doors; and, of course, no floors except adobe.
+Several half-breed children, nearly naked, stood and gazed at us as
+we prepared for rest. This was interesting and picturesque from many
+standpoints perhaps, but it did not tend to make me sleepy. I lay gazing
+into the fire which was smouldering in the corner, and finally I said,
+in a whisper, "Jack, which girl do you think is Cooley's wife?"
+
+"I don't know," answered this cross and tired man; and then added, "both
+of 'em, I guess."
+
+Now this was too awful, but I knew he did not intend for me to ask any
+more questions. I had a difficult time, in those days, reconciling what
+I saw with what I had been taught was right, and I had to sort over my
+ideas and deep-rooted prejudices a good many times.
+
+The two pretty squaws prepared a nice breakfast for us, and we set out,
+quite refreshed, to travel over the malapais (as the great lava-beds in
+that part of the country are called). There was no trace of a road. A
+few hours of this grinding and crunching over crushed lava wearied us
+all, and the animals found it hard pulling, although the country was
+level.
+
+We crossed Silver Creek without difficulty, and arrived at Stinson's
+ranch, after traveling twenty-five miles, mostly malapais. Do not for a
+moment think of these ranches as farms. Some of them were deserted sheep
+ranches, and had only adobe walls standing in ruins. But the camp must
+have a name, and on the old maps of Arizona these names are still to be
+found. Of course, on the new railroad maps, they are absent. They were
+generally near a spring or a creek, consequently were chosen as camps.
+
+Mrs. Bailey had her year-old boy, Howard, with her. We began to
+experience the utmost inconvenience from the lack of warm water and
+other things so necessary to the health and comfort of children. But we
+tried to make light of it all, and the two Lieutenants tried, in a man's
+way, to help us out. We declared we must have some clean towels for the
+next day, so we tried to rinse out, in the cold, hard water of the well,
+those which we had with us, and, as it was now nightfall and there was
+no fire inside this apparently deserted ranch, the two Lieutenants stood
+and held the wet towels before the camp-fire until they were dry.
+
+Mrs. Bailey and I, too tired to move, sat and watched them and had each
+our own thoughts. She was an army girl and perhaps had seen such things
+before, but it was a situation that did not seem quite in keeping with
+my ideas of the fitness of things in general, and with the uniform in
+particular. The uniform, associated in my mind with brilliant functions,
+guard-mount, parades and full-dress weddings--the uniform, in fact,
+that I adored. As I sat, gazing at them, they both turned around,
+and, realizing how almost ludicrous they looked, they began to laugh.
+Whereupon we all four laughed and Jack said: "Nice work for United
+States officers! hey, Bailey?"
+
+"It might be worse," sighed the handsome, blond-haired Bailey.
+
+Thirty miles the next day, over a good road, brought us to Walker's
+ranch, on the site of old Camp Supply. This ranch was habitable in a
+way, and the owner said we might use the bedrooms; but the wild-cats
+about the place were so numerous and so troublesome in the night, that
+we could not sleep. I have mentioned the absence of windows in these
+ranches; we were now to experience the great inconvenience resulting
+therefrom, for the low open spaces furnished great opportunity for the
+cats. In at one opening, and out at another they flew, first across the
+Bailey's bed, then over ours. The dogs caught the spirit of the chase,
+and added their noise to that of the cats. Both babies began to cry, and
+then up got Bailey and threw his heavy campaign boots at the cats, with
+some fitting remarks. A momentary silence reigned, and we tried again
+to sleep. Back came the cats, and then came Jack's turn with boots and
+travelling satchels. It was all of no avail, and we resigned ourselves.
+Cruelly tired, here we were, we two women, compelled to sit on hard
+boxes or the edge of a bed, to quiet our poor babies, all through that
+night, at that old sheep-ranch. Like the wretched emigrant, differing
+only from her inasmuch as she, never having known comfort perhaps,
+cannot realize her misery.
+
+The two Lieutenants slipped on their blouses, and sat looking helplessly
+at us, waging war on the cats at intervals. And so the dawn found us,
+our nerves at a tension, and our strength gone--a poor preparation for
+the trying day which was to follow.
+
+We were able to buy a couple of sheep there, to take with us for
+supplies, and some antelope meat. We could not indulge, in foolish
+scruples, but I tried not to look when they tied the live sheep and
+threw them into one of the wagons.
+
+Quite early in the day, we met a man who said he had been fired upon by
+some Indians at Sanford's Pass. We thought perhaps he had been scared by
+some stray shot, and we did not pay much attention to his story.
+
+Soon after, however, we passed a sort of old adobe ruin, out of which
+crept two bare-headed Mexicans, so badly frightened that their dark
+faces were pallid; their hair seemed standing on end, and they looked
+stark mad with fear. They talked wildly to the guide, and gesticulated,
+pointing in the direction of the Pass. They had been fired at, and their
+ponies taken by some roving Apaches. They had been in hiding for over
+a day, and were hungry and miserable. We gave them food and drink. They
+implored us, by the Holy Virgin, not to go through the Pass.
+
+What was to be done? The officers took counsel; the men looked to their
+arms. It was decided to go through. Jack examined his revolver, and saw
+that my pistol was loaded. I was instructed minutely what to do, in case
+we were attacked.
+
+For miles we strained our eyes, looking in the direction whence these
+men had come.
+
+At last, in mid-afternoon, we approached the Pass, a narrow defile
+winding down between high hills from this table-land to the plain below.
+To say that we feared an ambush, would not perhaps convey a very clear
+idea of how I felt on entering the Pass.
+
+There was not a word spoken. I obeyed orders, and lay down in the bottom
+of the ambulance; I took my derringer out of the holster and cocked it.
+I looked at my little boy lying helpless there beside me, and at his
+delicate temples, lined with thin blue veins, and wondered if I could
+follow out the instructions I had received: for Jack had said, after the
+decision was made, to go through the Pass, "Now, Mattie, I don't think
+for a minute that there are any Injuns in that Pass, and you must not be
+afraid. We have got to go through it any way; but"--he hesitated,--"we
+may be mistaken; there may be a few of them in there, and they'll have a
+mighty good chance to get in a shot or two. And now listen: if I'm hit,
+you'll know what to do. You have your derringer; and when you see that
+there is no help for it, if they get away with the whole outfit, why,
+there's only one thing to be done. Don't let them get the baby, for they
+will carry you both off and--well, you know the squaws are much more
+cruel than the bucks. Don't let them get either of you alive. Now"--to
+the driver--"go on."
+
+Jack was a man of few words, and seldom spoke much in times like that.
+
+So I lay very quiet in the bottom of the ambulance. I realized that we
+were in great danger. My thoughts flew back to the East, and I saw, as
+in a flash, my father and mother, sisters and brother; I think I tried
+to say a short prayer for them, and that they might never know the
+worst. I fixed my eyes upon my husband's face. There he sat, rifle in
+hand, his features motionless, his eyes keenly watching out from one
+side of the ambulance, while a stalwart cavalry-man, carbine in hand,
+watched the other side of the narrow defile. The minutes seemed like
+hours.
+
+The driver kept his animals steady, and we rattled along.
+
+At last, as I perceived the steep slope of the road, I looked out, and
+saw that the Pass was widening out, and we must be nearing the end of
+it. "Keep still," said Jack, without moving a feature. My heart seemed
+then to stop beating, and I dared not move again, until I heard him say,
+"Thank God, we're out of it! Get up, Mattie! See the river yonder? We'll
+cross that to-night, and then we'll be out of their God d----d country!"
+
+This was Jack's way of working off his excitement, and I did not mind
+it. I knew he was not afraid of Apaches for himself, but for his wife
+and child. And if I had been a man, I should have said just as much and
+perhaps more.
+
+We were now down in a flat country, and low alkali plains lay between us
+and the river. My nerves gradually recovered from the tension in which
+they had been held; the driver stopped his team for a moment, the other
+ambulance drove up alongside of us, and Ella Bailey and I looked at each
+other; we did not talk any, but I believe we cried just a little. Then
+Mr. Bailey and Jack (thinking we were giving way, I suppose) pulled out
+their big flasks, and we had to take a cup of good whiskey, weakened up
+with a little water from our canteens, which had been filled at Walker's
+ranch in the morning. Great Heavens! I thought, was it this morning
+that we left Walker's ranch, or was it a year ago? So much had I lived
+through in a few hours.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV. FORDING THE LITTLE COLORADO
+
+At a bend in the road the Mexican guide galloped up near the ambulance,
+and pointing off to the westward with a graceful gesture, said:
+"Colorado Chiquito! Colorado Chiquito!" And, sure enough, there in the
+afternoon sun lay the narrow winding river, its surface as smooth as
+glass, and its banks as if covered with snow.
+
+We drove straight for the ford, known as Sunset Crossing. The guide was
+sure he knew the place. But the river was high, and I could not see how
+anybody could cross it without a boat. The Mexican rode his pony in
+once or twice; shook his head, and said in Spanish, "there was much
+quicksand. The old ford had changed much since he saw it." He galloped
+excitedly to and fro, along the bank of the river, always returning to
+the same place, and declaring "it was the ford; there was no other; he
+knew it well."
+
+But the wagons not having yet arrived, it was decided not to attempt
+crossing until morning, when we could get a fresh start.
+
+The sun was gradually sinking in the west, but the heat down in that
+alkali river-bottom even at that early season of the year was most
+uncomfortable. I was worn out with fright and fatigue; my poor child
+cried piteously and incessantly. Nothing was of any avail to soothe him.
+After the tents were pitched and the camp-fires made, some warm water
+was brought, and I tried to wash away some of the dust from him, but the
+alkali water only irritated his delicate skin, and his head, where it
+had lain on my arm, was inflamed by the constant rubbing. It began
+to break out in ugly blisters; I was in despair. We were about as
+wretchedly off as two human beings could be, and live, it seemed to me.
+The disappointment at not getting across the river, combined with
+the fear that the Indians were still in the neighborhood, added to my
+nervousness and produced an exhaustion which, under other circumstances,
+would have meant collapse.
+
+The mournful and demoniacal cries of the coyotes filled the night; they
+seemed to come close to the tent, and their number seemed to be legion.
+I lay with eyes wide open, watching for the day to come, and resolving
+each minute that if I ever escaped alive from that lonely river-bottom
+with its burning alkali, and its millions of howling coyotes, I would
+never, never risk being placed in such a situation again.
+
+At dawn everybody got up and dressed. I looked in my small hand-mirror,
+and it seemed to me my hair had turned a greyish color, and while it
+was not exactly white, the warm chestnut tinge never came back into it,
+after that day and night of terror. My eyes looked back at me large and
+hollow from the small glass, and I was in that state when it is easy to
+imagine the look of Death in one's own face. I think sometimes it comes,
+after we have thought ourselves near the borders. And I surely had been
+close to them the day before.
+
+
+*****
+
+
+If perchance any of my readers have followed this narrative so far, and
+there be among them possibly any men, young or old, I would say to such
+ones: "Desist!" For what I am going to tell about in this chapter, and
+possibly another, concerns nobody but women, and my story will now, for
+awhile, not concern itself with the Eighth Foot, nor the army, nor the
+War Department, nor the Interior Department, nor the strategic value of
+Sunset Crossing, which may now be a railroad station, for all I know. It
+is simply a story of my journey from the far bank of the Little Colorado
+to Fort Whipple, and then on, by a change of orders, over mountains
+and valleys, cactus plains and desert lands, to the banks of the Great
+Colorado.
+
+My attitude towards the places I travelled through was naturally
+influenced by the fact that I had a young baby in my arms the entire
+way, and that I was not able to endure hardship at that time. For
+usually, be it remembered, at that period of a child's life, both mother
+and infant are not out of the hands of the doctor and trained nurse, to
+say nothing of the assistance so gladly rendered by those near and dear.
+
+The morning of the 28th of April dawned shortly after midnight, as
+mornings in Arizona generally do at that season, and after a hasty
+camp breakfast, and a good deal of reconnoitering on the part of the
+officers, who did not seem to be exactly satisfied about the Mexican's
+knowledge of the ford, they told him to push his pony in, and cross if
+he could.
+
+He managed to pick his way across and back, after a good deal of
+floundering, and we decided to try the ford. First they hitched up ten
+mules to one of the heavily loaded baggage-wagons, the teamster cracked
+his whip, and in they went. But the quicksand frightened the leaders,
+and they lost their courage. Now when a mule loses courage, in the
+water, he puts his head down and is done for. The leaders disappeared
+entirely, then the next two and finally the whole ten of them were gone,
+irrevocably, as I thought. But like a flash, the officers shouted: "Cut
+away those mules! Jump in there!" and amid other expletives the men
+plunged in, and feeling around under the water cut the poor animals
+loose and they began to crawl out on the other bank. I drew a long
+breath, for I thought the ten mules were drowned.
+
+The guide picked his way over again to the other side and caught them
+up, and then I began to wonder how on earth we should ever get across.
+
+There lay the heavy army wagon, deep mired in the middle of the stream,
+and what did I see? Our army chests, floating away down the river. I
+cried out: "Oh! do save our chests!" "They're all right, we'll get them
+presently," said Jack. It seemed a long time to me, before the soldiers
+could get them to the bank, which they did, with the aid of stout ropes.
+All our worldly goods were in those chests, and I knew they were soaked
+wet and probably ruined; but, after all, what did it matter, in the face
+of the serious problem which confronted us?
+
+In the meantime, some of the men had floated the other boxes and trunks
+out of the wagon back to the shore, and were busy taking the huge
+vehicle apart. Any one who knows the size of an army wagon will realize
+that this was hard work, especially as the wagon was mired, and nearly
+submerged. But the men worked desperately, and at last succeeded in
+getting every part of it back onto the dry land.
+
+Somebody stirred up the camp-fire and put the kettle on, and Mrs. Bailey
+and I mixed up a smoking strong hot toddy for those brave fellows, who
+were by this time well exhausted. Then they set to work to make a boat,
+by drawing a large canvas under the body of the wagon, and fastening
+it securely. For this Lieutenant of mine had been a sailor-man and knew
+well how to meet emergencies.
+
+One or two of the soldiers had now forded the stream on horseback, and
+taken over a heavy rope, which was made fast to our improvised boat.
+I was acquainted with all kinds of boats, from a catamaran to a
+full-rigged ship, but never a craft like this had I seen. Over the
+sides we clambered, however, and were ferried across the treacherous
+and glassy waters of the Little Colorado. All the baggage and the two
+ambulances were ferried over, and the other wagon was unloaded and drawn
+over by means of ropes.
+
+This proceeding took all day, and of course we could get no farther, and
+were again obliged to camp in that most uncomfortable river-bottom. But
+we felt safer on that side. I looked at the smooth surface of the river,
+and its alkali shores, and the picture became indelibly impressed upon
+my memory. The unpleasant reality destroyed any poetic associations
+which might otherwise have clung to the name of Sunset Crossing in my
+ever vivid imagination.
+
+After the tents were pitched, and the camp snugged up, Mr. Bailey
+produced some champagne and we wished each other joy, that we had made
+the dangerous crossing and escaped the perils of Sanford's Pass. I am
+afraid the champagne was not as cold as might have been desired, but the
+bottle had been wrapped in a wet blanket, and cooled a little in that
+way, and we drank it with zest, from a mess-cup.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI. STONEMAN'S LAKE
+
+The road began now to ascend, and after twenty miles' travelling we
+reached a place called Updyke's Tanks. It was a nice place, with plenty
+of wood and grass. The next day we camped at Jay Coxe's Tanks. It was
+a hard day's march, and I was tired out when we arrived there. The
+ambulance was simply jerked over those miles of fearful rocks; one could
+not say driven or dragged over, for we were pitched from rock to rock
+the entire distance.
+
+Stoneman's Lake Road was famous, as I afterwards heard. Perhaps it was
+just as well for me that I did not know about it in advance.
+
+The sure-footed mules picked their way over these sharp-edged rocks.
+There was not a moment's respite. We asked a soldier to help with
+holding the baby, for my arms gave out entirely, and were as if
+paralyzed. The jolting threw us all by turns against the sides of
+the ambulance (which was not padded), and we all got some rather bad
+bruises. We finally bethought ourselves of the pappoose basket, which we
+had brought along in the ambulance, having at the last moment no other
+place to put it. So a halt was called, we placed the tired baby in this
+semi-cradle, laced the sides snugly over him, and were thus enabled to
+carry him over those dreadful roads without danger.
+
+He did not cry much, but the dust made him thirsty. I could not give him
+nourishment without stopping the entire train of wagons, on account
+of the constant pitching of the ambulance; delay was not advisable or
+expedient, so my poor little son had to endure with the rest of us. The
+big Alsatian cavalryman held the cradle easily in his strong arms, and
+so the long miles were travelled, one by one.
+
+At noon of this day we made a refreshing halt, built a fire and took
+some luncheon. We found a shady, grassy spot, upon which the blankets
+were spread, and we stretched ourselves out upon them and rested. But
+we were still some miles from water, so after a short respite we were
+compelled to push on. We had been getting steadily higher since leaving
+Sunset Crossing, and now it began to be cold and looked like snow. Mrs.
+Bailey and I found it very trying to meet these changes of temperature.
+A good place for the camp was found at Coxe's Tanks, trenches were dug
+around the tents, and the earth banked up to keep us warm. The cool air,
+our great fatigue, and the comparative absence of danger combined to
+give us a heavenly night's rest.
+
+Towards sunset of the next day, which was May Day, our cavalcade reached
+Stoneman's Lake. We had had another rough march, and had reached the
+limit of endurance, or thought we had, when we emerged from a mountain
+pass and drew rein upon the high green mesa overlooking Stoneman's Lake,
+a beautiful blue sheet of water lying there away below us. It was good
+to our tired eyes, which had gazed upon nothing but burnt rocks
+and alkali plains for so many days. Our camp was beautiful beyond
+description, and lay near the edge of the mesa, whence we could look
+down upon the lovely lake. It was a complete surprise to us, as points
+of scenery were not much known or talked about then in Arizona. Ponds
+and lakes were unheard of. They did not seem to exist in that drear land
+of arid wastes. We never heard of water except that of the Colorado
+or the Gila or the tanks and basins, and irrigation ditches of the
+settlers. But here was a real Italian lake, a lake as blue as the skies
+above us. We feasted our eyes and our very souls upon it.
+
+Bailey and the guide shot some wild turkeys, and as we had already
+eaten all the mutton we had along, the ragout of turkey made by the
+soldier-cook for our supper tasted better to us tired and hungry
+travellers, perhaps, than a canvasback at Delmonico's tastes to the
+weary lounger or the over-worked financier.
+
+In the course of the day, we had passed a sort of sign-board, with the
+rudely written inscription, "Camp Starvation," and we had heard from
+Mr. Bailey the story of the tragic misfortunes at this very place of
+the well-known Hitchcock family of Arizona. The road was lined with dry
+bones, and skulls of oxen, white and bleached in the sun, lying on the
+bare rocks. Indeed, at every stage of the road we had seen evidences
+of hard travel, exhausted cattle, anxious teamsters, hunger and thirst,
+despair, starvation, and death.
+
+However, Stoneman's Lake remains a joy in the memory, and far and away
+the most beautiful spot I ever saw in Arizona. But unless the approaches
+to it are made easier, tourists will never gaze upon it.
+
+In the distance we saw the "divide," over which we must pass in order
+to reach Camp Verde, which was to be our first stopping place, and we
+looked joyfully towards the next day's march, which we expected would
+bring us there.
+
+We thought the worst was over and, before retiring to our tents for the
+night, we walked over to the edge of the high mesa and, in the gathering
+shadows of twilight, looked down into the depths of that beautiful lake,
+knowing that probably we should never see it again.
+
+And indeed, in all the years I spent in Arizona afterward, I never even
+heard of the lake again.
+
+I wonder now, did it really exist or was it an illusion, a dream, or the
+mirage which appears to the desert traveller, to satisfy him and lure
+him on, to quiet his imagination, and to save his senses from utter
+extinction?
+
+In the morning the camp was all astir for an early move. We had no
+time to look back: we were starting for a long day's march, across the
+"divide," and into Camp Verde.
+
+But we soon found that the road (if road it could be called) was worse
+than any we had encountered. The ambulance was pitched and jerked from
+rock to rock and we were thumped against the iron framework in a most
+dangerous manner. So we got out and picked our way over the great sharp
+boulders.
+
+The Alsatian soldier carried the baby, who lay securely in the pappoose
+cradle.
+
+One of the cavalry escort suggested my taking his horse, but I did
+not feel strong enough to think of mounting a horse, so great was my
+discouragement and so exhausted was my vitality. Oh! if girls only knew
+about these things I thought! For just a little knowledge of the care
+of an infant and its needs, its nourishment and its habits, might have
+saved both mother and child from such utter collapse.
+
+Little by little we gave up hope of reaching Verde that day. At four
+o'clock we crossed the "divide," and clattered down a road so near the
+edge of a precipice that I was frightened beyond everything: my senses
+nearly left me. Down and around, this way and that, near the edge, then
+back again, swaying, swerving, pitching, the gravel clattering over the
+precipice, the six mules trotting their fastest, we reached the
+bottom and the driver pulled up his team. "Beaver Springs!" said he,
+impressively, loosening up the brakes.
+
+As Jack lifted me out of the ambulance, I said: "Why didn't you tell
+me?" pointing back to the steep road. "Oh," said he, "I thought it was
+better for you not to know; people get scared about such things, when
+they know about them before hand."
+
+"But," I remarked, "such a break-neck pace!" Then, to the driver,
+"Smith, how could you drive down that place at such a rate and frighten
+me so?"
+
+"Had to, ma'am, or we'd a'gone over the edge."
+
+I had been brought up in a flat country down near the sea, and I did not
+know the dangers of mountain travelling, nor the difficulties attending
+the piloting of a six-mule team down a road like that. From this time
+on, however, Smith rose in my estimation. I seemed also to be realizing
+that the Southwest was a great country and that there was much to learn
+about. Life out there was beginning to interest me.
+
+Camp Verde lay sixteen miles farther on; no one knew if the road were
+good or bad. I declared I could not travel another mile, even if
+they all went on and left me to the wolves and the darkness of Beaver
+Springs.
+
+We looked to our provisions and took account of stock. There was not
+enough for the two families. We had no flour and no bread; there was
+only a small piece of bacon, six potatoes, some condensed milk, and some
+chocolate. The Baileys decided to go on; for Mrs. Bailey was to meet her
+sister at Verde and her parents at Whipple. We said good-bye, and their
+ambulance rolled away. Our tent was pitched and the baby was laid on the
+bed, asleep from pure exhaustion.
+
+The dread darkness of night descended upon us, and the strange odors of
+the bottom-lands arose, mingling with the delicious smoky smell of the
+camp-fire.
+
+By the light of the blazing mesquite wood, we now divided what
+provisions we had, into two portions: one for supper, and one for
+breakfast. A very light meal we had that evening, and I arose from the
+mess-table unsatisfied and hungry.
+
+Jack and I sat down by the camp-fire, musing over the hard times we were
+having, when suddenly I heard a terrified cry from my little son. We
+rushed to the tent, lighted a candle, and oh! horror upon horrors!
+his head and face were covered with large black ants; he was wailing
+helplessly, and beating the air with his tiny arms.
+
+"My God!" cried Jack, "we're camped over an ant-hill!"
+
+I seized the child, and brushing off the ants as I fled, brought him out
+to the fire, where by its light I succeeded in getting rid of them all.
+But the horror of it! Can any mother brought up in God's country with
+kind nurses and loved ones to minister to her child, for a moment
+imagine how I felt when I saw those hideous, three-bodied, long-legged
+black ants crawling over my baby's face? After a lapse of years, I
+cannot recall that moment without a shudder.
+
+The soldiers at last found a place which seemed to be free from
+ant-hills, and our tent was again pitched, but only to find that the
+venomous things swarmed over us as soon as we lay down to rest.
+
+And so, after the fashion of the Missouri emigrant, we climbed into the
+ambulance and lay down upon our blankets in the bottom of it, and tried
+to believe we were comfortable.
+
+My long, hard journey of the preceding autumn, covering a period of
+two months; my trying experiences during the winter at Camp Apache; the
+sudden break-up and the packing; the lack of assistance from a nurse;
+the terrors of the journey; the sympathy for my child, who suffered from
+many ailments and principally from lack of nourishment, added to the
+profound fatigue I felt, had reduced my strength to a minimum. I wonder
+that I lived, but something sustained me, and when we reached Camp Verde
+the next day, and drew up before Lieutenant O'Connell's quarters, and
+saw Mrs. O'Connell's kind face beaming to welcome us, I felt that here
+was relief at last.
+
+The tall Alsatian handed the pappoose cradle to Mrs. O'Connell.
+
+"Gracious goodness! what is this?" cried the bewildered woman; "surely
+it cannot be your baby! You haven't turned entirely Indian, have you,
+amongst those wild Apaches?"
+
+I felt sorry I had not taken him out of the basket before we arrived. I
+did not realize the impression it would make at Camp Verde. After
+all, they did not know anything about our life at Apache, or our rough
+travels to get back from there. Here were lace-curtained windows,
+well-dressed women, smart uniforms, and, in fact, civilization, compared
+with what we had left.
+
+The women of the post gathered around the broad piazza, to see the
+wonder. But when they saw the poor little wan face, the blue eyes which
+looked sadly out at them from this rude cradle, the linen bandages
+covering the back of the head, they did not laugh any more, but took him
+and ministered to him, as only kind women can minister to a sick baby.
+
+There was not much rest, however, for we had to sort and rearrange our
+things, and dress ourselves properly. (Oh! the luxury of a room and a
+tub, after that journey!) Jack put on his best uniform, and there was
+no end of visiting, in spite of the heat, which was considerable even
+at that early date in May. The day there would have been pleasant enough
+but for my wretched condition.
+
+The next morning we set out for Fort Whipple, making a long day's march,
+and arriving late in the evening. The wife of the Quartermaster, a total
+stranger to me, received us, and before we had time to exchange the
+usual social platitudes, she gave one look at the baby, and put an end
+to any such attempts. "You have a sick child; give him to me;" then I
+told her some things, and she said: "I wonder he is alive." Then she
+took him under her charge and declared we should not leave her house
+until he was well again. She understood all about nursing, and day
+by day, under her good care, and Doctor Henry Lippincott's skilful
+treatment, I saw my baby brought back to life again. Can I ever forget
+Mrs. Aldrich's blessed kindness?
+
+Up to then, I had taken no interest in Camp MacDowell, where was
+stationed the company into which my husband was promoted. I knew it
+was somewhere in the southern part of the Territory, and isolated. The
+present was enough. I was meeting my old Fort Russell friends, and under
+Doctor Lippincott's good care I was getting back a measure of strength.
+Camp MacDowell was not yet a reality to me.
+
+We met again Colonel Wilkins and Mrs. Wilkins and Carrie, and Mrs.
+Wilkins thanked me for bringing her daughter alive out of those wilds.
+Poor girl; 'twas but a few months when we heard of her death, at the
+birth of her second child. I have always thought her death was caused by
+the long hard journey from Apache to Whipple, for Nature never intended
+women to go through what we went through, on that memorable journey by
+Stoneman's Lake.
+
+There I met again Captain Porter, and I asked him if he had progressed
+any in his courtship, and he, being very much embarrassed, said he did
+not know, but if patient waiting was of any avail, he believed he might
+win his bride.
+
+After we had been at Whipple a few days, Jack came in and remarked
+casually to Lieutenant Aldrich, "Well, I heard Bernard has asked to be
+relieved from Ehrenberg.
+
+"What!" I said, "the lonely man down there on the river--the prisoner
+of Chillon--the silent one? Well, they are going to relieve him, of
+course?"
+
+"Why, yes," said Jack, falteringly, "if they can get anyone to take his
+place."
+
+"Can't they order some one?" I inquired.
+
+"Of course they can," he replied, and then, turning towards the window,
+he ventured: "The fact is Martha, I've been offered it, and am thinking
+it over." (The real truth was, that he had applied for it, thinking it
+possessed great advantages over Camp MacDowell. )
+
+"What! do I hear aright? Have your senses left you? Are you crazy?
+Are you going to take me to that awful place? Why, Jack, I should die
+there!"
+
+"Now, Martha, be reasonable; listen to me, and if you really decide
+against it, I'll throw up the detail. But don't you see, we shall be
+right on the river, the boat comes up every fortnight or so, you can
+jump aboard and go up to San Francisco." (Oh, how alluring that sounded
+to my ears!) "Why, it's no trouble to get out of Arizona from Ehrenberg.
+Then, too, I shall be independent, and can do just as I like, and when
+I like," et caetera, et caetera. "Oh, you'll be making the greatest
+mistake, if you decide against it. As for MacDowell, it's a hell of a
+place, down there in the South; and you never will be able to go back
+East with the baby, if we once get settled down there. Why, it's a good
+fifteen days from the river."
+
+And so he piled up the arguments in favor of Ehrenberg, saying finally,
+"You need not stop a day there. If the boat happens to be up, you can
+jump right aboard and start at once down river."
+
+All the discomforts of the voyage on the "Newbern," and the memory of
+those long days spent on the river steamer in August had paled before my
+recent experiences. I flew, in imagination, to the deck of the "Gila,"
+and to good Captain Mellon, who would take me and my child out of that
+wretched Territory.
+
+"Yes, yes, let us go then," I cried; for here came in my inexperience. I
+thought I was choosing the lesser evil, and I knew that Jack believed it
+to be so, and also that he had set his heart upon Ehrenberg, for reasons
+known only to the understanding of a military man.
+
+So it was decided to take the Ehrenberg detail.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII. THE COLORADO DESERT
+
+Some serpents slid from out the grass That grew in tufts by shattered
+stone, Then hid below some broken mass Of ruins older than the East,
+That Time had eaten, as a bone Is eaten by some savage beast.
+
+Great dull-eyed rattlesnakes--they lay All loathsome, yellow-skinned,
+and slept Coiled tight as pine knots in the sun, With flat heads through
+the centre run; Then struck out sharp, then rattling crept Flat-bellied
+down the dusty way.
+
+--JOAQUIN MILLER.
+
+
+At the end of a week, we started forth for Ehrenberg. Our escort was now
+sent back to Camp Apache, and the Baileys remained at Fort Whipple, so
+our outfit consisted of one ambulance and one army wagon. One or two
+soldiers went along, to help with the teams and the camp.
+
+We travelled two days over a semi-civilized country, and found quite
+comfortable ranches where we spent the nights. The greatest luxury was
+fresh milk, and we enjoyed that at these ranches in Skull Valley. They
+kept American cows, and supplied Whipple Barracks with milk and butter.
+We drank, and drank, and drank again, and carried a jugful to our
+bedside. The third day brought us to Cullen's ranch, at the edge of
+the desert. Mrs. Cullen was a Mexican woman and had a little boy named
+Daniel; she cooked us a delicious supper of stewed chicken, and fried
+eggs, and good bread, and then she put our boy to bed in Daniel's crib.
+I felt so grateful to her; and with a return of physical comfort, I
+began to think that life, after all, might be worth the living.
+
+Hopefully and cheerfully the next morning we entered the vast Colorado
+desert. This was verily the desert, more like the desert which our
+imagination pictures, than the one we had crossed in September
+from Mojave. It seemed so white, so bare, so endless, and so still;
+irreclaimable, eternal, like Death itself. The stillness was appalling.
+We saw great numbers of lizards darting about like lightning; they were
+nearly as white as the sand itself, and sat up on their hind legs and
+looked at us with their pretty, beady black eyes. It seemed very far off
+from everywhere and everybody, this desert--but I knew there was a camp
+somewhere awaiting us, and our mules trotted patiently on. Towards noon
+they began to raise their heads and sniff the air; they knew that water
+was near. They quickened their pace, and we soon drew up before a large
+wooden structure. There were no trees nor grass around it. A Mexican
+worked the machinery with the aid of a mule, and water was bought for
+our twelve animals, at so much per head. The place was called Mesquite
+Wells; the man dwelt alone in his desolation, with no living being
+except his mule for company. How could he endure it! I was not able,
+even faintly, to comprehend it; I had not lived long enough. He occupied
+a small hut, and there he staid, year in and year out, selling water to
+the passing traveller; and I fancy that travellers were not so frequent
+at Mesquite Wells a quarter of a century ago.
+
+The thought of that hermit and his dreary surroundings filled my mind
+for a long time after we drove away, and it was only when we halted and
+a soldier got down to kill a great rattlesnake near the ambulance, that
+my thoughts were diverted. The man brought the rattles to us and the new
+toy served to amuse my little son.
+
+At night we arrived at Desert Station. There was a good ranch there,
+kept by Hunt and Dudley, Englishmen, I believe. I did not see them, but
+I wondered who they were and why they staid in such a place. They were
+absent at the time; perhaps they had mines or something of the sort to
+look after. One is always imagining things about people who live in such
+extraordinary places. At all events, whatever Messrs. Hunt and Dudley
+were doing down there, their ranch was clean and attractive, which was
+more than could be said of the place where we stopped the next night, a
+place called Tyson's Wells. We slept in our tent that night, for of
+all places on the earth a poorly kept ranch in Arizona is the most
+melancholy and uninviting. It reeks of everything unclean, morally and
+physically. Owen Wister has described such a place in his delightful
+story, where the young tenderfoot dances for the amusement of the old
+habitues.
+
+One more day's travel across the desert brought us to our El Dorado.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII. EHRENBERG ON THE COLORADO
+
+Under the burning mid-day sun of Arizona, on May 16th, our six good
+mules, with the long whip cracking about their ears, and the ambulance
+rattling merrily along, brought us into the village of Ehrenberg. There
+was one street, so called, which ran along on the river bank, and then a
+few cross streets straggling back into the desert, with here and there
+a low adobe casa. The Government house stood not far from the river, and
+as we drove up to the entrance the same blank white walls stared at me.
+It did not look so much like a prison, after all, I thought. Captain
+Bernard, the man whom I had pitied, stood at the doorway, to greet
+us, and after we were inside the house he had some biscuits and wine
+brought; and then the change of stations was talked of, and he said to
+me, "Now, please make yourself at home. The house is yours; my things
+are virtually packed up, and I leave in a day or two. There is a soldier
+here who can stay with you; he has been able to attend to my simple
+wants. I eat only twice a day; and here is Charley, my Indian, who
+fetches the water from the river and does the chores. I dine generally
+at sundown."
+
+A shadow fell across the sunlight in the doorway; I looked around and
+there stood "Charley," who had come in with the noiseless step of the
+moccasined foot. I saw before me a handsome naked Cocopah Indian, who
+wore a belt and a gee-string. He seemed to feel at home and began to
+help with the bags and various paraphernalia of ambulance travellers.
+He looked to be about twenty-four years old. His face was smiling and
+friendly and I knew I should like him.
+
+The house was a one-story adobe. It formed two sides of a hollow square;
+the other two sides were a high wall, and the Government freight-house
+respectively. The courtyard was partly shaded by a ramada and partly
+open to the hot sun. There was a chicken-yard in one corner of the
+inclosed square, and in the centre stood a rickety old pump, which
+indicated some sort of a well. Not a green leaf or tree or blade of
+grass in sight. Nothing but white sand, as far as one could see, in all
+directions.
+
+Inside the house there were bare white walls, ceilings covered with
+manta, and sagging, as they always do; small windows set in deep
+embrasures, and adobe floors. Small and inconvenient rooms, opening
+one into another around two sides of the square. A sort of low veranda
+protected by lattice screens, made from a species of slim cactus, called
+ocotilla, woven together, and bound with raw-hide, ran around a part of
+the house.
+
+Our dinner was enlivened by some good Cocomonga wine. I tried to
+ascertain something about the source of provisions, but evidently the
+soldier had done the foraging, and Captain Bernard admitted that it was
+difficult, adding always that he did not require much, "it was so warm,"
+et caetera, et caetera. The next morning I took the reins, nominally,
+but told the soldier to go ahead and do just as he had always done. I
+selected a small room for the baby's bath, the all important function of
+the day. The Indian brought me a large tub (the same sort of a half of a
+vinegar barrel we had used at Apache for ourselves), set it down in the
+middle of the floor, and brought water from a barrel which stood in
+the corral. A low box was placed for me to sit on. This was a bachelor
+establishment, and there was no place but the floor to lay things on;
+but what with the splashing and the leaking and the dripping, the floor
+turned to mud and the white clothes and towels were covered with it, and
+I myself was a sight to behold. The Indian stood smiling at my plight.
+He spoke only a pigeon English, but said, "too much-ee wet."
+
+I was in despair; things began to look hopeless again to me. I thought
+"surely these Mexicans must know how to manage with these floors."
+Fisher, the steamboat agent, came in, and I asked him if he could not
+find me a nurse. He said he would try, and went out to see what could be
+done.
+
+He finally brought in a rather forlorn looking Mexican woman leading a
+little child (whose father was not known), and she said she would come
+to us for quinze pesos a month. I consulted with Fisher, and he said
+she was a pretty good sort, and that we could not afford to be too
+particular down in that country. And so she came; and although she was
+indolent, and forever smoking cigarettes, she did care for the baby, and
+fanned him when he slept, and proved a blessing to me.
+
+And now came the unpacking of our boxes, which had floated down the
+Colorado Chiquito. The fine damask, brought from Germany for my linen
+chest, was a mass of mildew; and when the books came to light, I could
+have wept to see the pretty editions of Schiller, Goethe, and Lessing,
+which I had bought in Hanover, fall out of their bindings; the latter,
+warped out of all shape, and some of them unrecognizable. I did the best
+I could, however, not to show too much concern, and gathered the pages
+carefully together, to dry them in the sun.
+
+They were my pride, my best beloved possessions, the links that bound me
+to the happy days in old Hanover.
+
+I went to Fisher for everything--a large, well-built American, and a
+kind good man. Mrs. Fisher could not endure the life at Ehrenberg, so
+she lived in San Francisco, he told me. There were several other white
+men in the place, and two large stores where everything was kept that
+people in such countries buy. These merchants made enormous profits, and
+their families lived in luxury in San Francisco.
+
+The rest of the population consisted of a very poor class of Mexicans,
+Cocopah, Yuma and Mojave Indians, and half-breeds.
+
+The duties of the army officer stationed here consisted principally in
+receiving and shipping the enormous quantity of Government freight which
+was landed by the river steamers. It was shipped by wagon trains across
+the Territory, and at all times the work carried large responsibilities
+with it.
+
+I soon realized that however much the present incumbent might like the
+situation, it was no fit place for a woman.
+
+The station at Ehrenberg was what we call, in the army, "detached
+service." I realized that we had left the army for the time being; that
+we had cut loose from a garrison; that we were in a place where good
+food could not be procured, and where there were practically no servants
+to be had. That there was not a woman to speak to, or to go to for
+advice or help, and, worst of all, that there was no doctor in the
+place. Besides all this, my clothes were all ruined by lying wet for a
+fortnight in the boxes, and I had practically nothing to wear. I did not
+then know what useless things clothes were in Ehrenberg.
+
+The situation appeared rather serious; the weather had grown intensely
+hot, and it was decided that the only thing for me to do was to go to
+San Francisco for the summer.
+
+So one day we heard the whistle of the "Gila" going up; and when she
+came down river, I was all ready to go on board, with Patrocina and
+Jesusita, [*] and my own child, who was yet but five months old. I bade
+farewell to the man on detached service, and we headed down river. We
+seemed to go down very rapidly, although the trip lasted several days.
+Patrocina took to her bed with neuralgia (or nostalgia); her little
+devil of a child screamed the entire days and nights through, to the
+utter discomfiture of the few other passengers. A young lieutenant and
+his wife and an army surgeon, who had come from one of the posts in the
+interior, were among the number, and they seemed to think that I could
+help it (though they did not say so).
+
+     * Diminutive of Jesus, a very common name amongst the
+     Mexicans. Pronounced Hay-soo-se-ta.
+
+Finally the doctor said that if I did not throw Jesusita overboard,
+he would; why didn't I "wring the neck of its worthless Mexican of
+a mother?" and so on, until I really grew very nervous and unhappy,
+thinking what I should do after we got on board the ocean steamer. I,
+a victim of seasickness, with this unlucky woman and her child on
+my hands, in addition to my own! No; I made up my mind to go back to
+Ehrenberg, but I said nothing.
+
+I did not dare to let Doctor Clark know of my decision, for I knew he
+would try to dissuade me; but when we reached the mouth of the river,
+and they began to transfer the passengers to the ocean steamer which
+lay in the offing, I quietly sat down upon my trunk and told them I
+was going back to Ehrenberg. Captain Mellon grinned; the others were
+speechless; they tried persuasion, but saw it was useless; and then they
+said good-bye to me, and our stern-wheeler headed about and started for
+up river.
+
+Ehrenberg had become truly my old man of the sea; I could not get rid of
+it. There I must go, and there I must stay, until circumstances and the
+Fates were more propitious for my departure.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX. SUMMER AT EHRENBERG
+
+The week we spent going up the Colorado in June was not as uncomfortable
+as the time spent on the river in August of the previous year.
+Everything is relative, I discovered, and I was happy in going back
+to stay with the First Lieutenant of C Company, and share his fortunes
+awhile longer.
+
+Patrocina recovered, as soon as she found we were to return to
+Ehrenberg. I wondered how anybody could be so homesick for such a
+God-forsaken place. I asked her if she had ever seen a tree, or green
+grass (for I could talk with her quite easily now). She shook her
+mournful head. "But don't you want to see trees and grass and flowers?"
+
+Another sad shake of the head was the only reply.
+
+Such people, such natures, and such lives, were incomprehensible to me
+then. I could not look at things except from my own standpoint.
+
+She took her child upon her knee, and lighted a cigarette; I took mine
+upon my knee, and gazed at the river banks: they were now old friends: I
+had gazed at them many times before; how much I had experienced, and how
+much had happened since I first saw them! Could it be that I should ever
+come to love them, and the pungent smell of the arrow-weed which covered
+them to the water's edge?
+
+The huge mosquitoes swarmed over us in the nights from those thick
+clumps of arrow-weed and willow, and the nets with which Captain Mellon
+provided us did not afford much protection.
+
+The June heat was bad enough, though not quite so stifling as the August
+heat. I was becoming accustomed to climates, and had learned to endure
+discomfort. The salt beef and the Chinaman's peach pies were no longer
+offensive to me. Indeed, I had a good appetite for them, though they
+were not exactly the sort of food prescribed by the modern doctor, for
+a young mother. Of course, milk, eggs, and all fresh food were not to be
+had on the river boats. Ice was still a thing unknown on the Colorado.
+
+When, after a week, the "Gila" pushed her nose up to the bank at
+Ehrenberg, there stood the Quartermaster. He jumped aboard, and did not
+seem in the least surprised to see me. "I knew you'd come back," said
+he. I laughed, of course, and we both laughed.
+
+"I hadn't the courage to go on," I replied
+
+"Oh, well, we can make things comfortable here and get through the
+summer some way," he said. "I'll build some rooms on, and a kitchen,
+and we can surely get along. It's the healthiest place in the world for
+children, they tell me."
+
+So after a hearty handshake with Captain Mellon, who had taken such
+good care of me on my week's voyage up river, I being almost the only
+passenger, I put my foot once more on the shores of old Ehrenberg, and
+we wended our way towards the blank white walls of the Government house.
+I was glad to be back, and content to wait.
+
+So work was begun immediately on the kitchen. My first stipulation was,
+that the new rooms were to have wooden floors; for, although the Cocopah
+Charley kept the adobe floors in perfect condition, by sprinkling them
+down and sweeping them out every morning, they were quite impossible,
+especially where it concerned white dresses and children, and the little
+sharp rocks in them seemed to be so tiring to the feet.
+
+Life as we Americans live it was difficult in Ehrenberg. I often said:
+"Oh! if we could only live as the Mexicans live, how easy it would be!"
+For they had their fire built between some stones piled up in
+their yard, a piece of sheet iron laid over the top: this was the
+cooking-stove. A pot of coffee was made in the morning early, and the
+family sat on the low porch and drank it, and ate a biscuit. Then a
+kettle of frijoles [*] was put over to boil. These were boiled slowly
+for some hours, then lard and salt were added, and they simmered down
+until they were deliciously fit to eat, and had a thick red gravy.
+
+     *Mexican brown bean.
+
+Then the young matron, or daughter of the house, would mix the
+peculiar paste of flour and salt and water, for tortillas, a species
+of unleavened bread. These tortillas were patted out until they were
+as large as a dinner plate, and very thin; then thrown onto the
+hot sheet-iron, where they baked. Each one of the family then got a
+tortilla, the spoonful of beans was laid upon it, and so they managed
+without the paraphernalia of silver and china and napery.
+
+How I envied them the simplicity of their lives! Besides, the tortillas
+were delicious to eat, and as for the frijoles, they were beyond
+anything I had ever eaten in the shape of beans. I took lessons in the
+making of tortillas. A woman was paid to come and teach me; but I never
+mastered the art. It is in the blood of the Mexican, and a girl begins
+at a very early age to make the tortilla. It is the most graceful thing
+to see a pretty Mexican toss the wafer-like disc over her bare arm, and
+pat it out until transparent.
+
+This was their supper; for, like nearly all people in the tropics, they
+ate only twice a day. Their fare was varied sometimes by a little carni
+seca, pounded up and stewed with chile verde or chile colorado.
+
+Now if you could hear the soft, exquisite, affectionate drawl with which
+the Mexican woman says chile verde you could perhaps come to realize
+what an important part the delicious green pepper plays in the cookery
+of these countries. They do not use it in its raw state, but generally
+roast it whole, stripping off the thin skin and throwing away the seeds,
+leaving only the pulp, which acquires a fine flavor by having been
+roasted or toasted over the hot coals.
+
+The women were scrupulously clean and modest, and always wore, when in
+their casa, a low-necked and short-sleeved white linen camisa, fitting
+neatly, with bands around neck and arms. Over this they wore a calico
+skirt; always white stockings and black slippers. When they ventured
+out, the younger women put on muslin gowns, and carried parasols. The
+older women wore a linen towel thrown over their heads, or, in cool
+weather, the black riboso. I often cried: "Oh! if I could only dress as
+the Mexicans do! Their necks and arms do look so cool and clean."
+
+I have always been sorry I did not adopt their fashion of house apparel.
+Instead of that, I yielded to the prejudices of my conservative partner,
+and sweltered during the day in high-necked and long-sleeved white
+dresses, kept up the table in American fashion, ate American food in
+so far as we could get it, and all at the expense of strength; for our
+soldier cooks, who were loaned us by Captain Ernest from his company at
+Fort Yuma, were constantly being changed, and I was often left with the
+Indian and the indolent Patrocina. At those times, how I wished I had
+no silver, no table linen, no china, and could revert to the primitive
+customs of my neighbors!
+
+There was no market, but occasionally a Mexican killed a steer, and we
+bought enough for one meal; but having no ice, and no place away from
+the terrific heat, the meat was hung out under the ramada with a piece
+of netting over it, until the first heat had passed out of it, and then
+it was cooked.
+
+The Mexican, after selling what meat he could, cut the rest into thin
+strips and hung it up on ropes to dry in the sun. It dried hard and
+brittle, in its natural state, so pure is the air on that wonderful
+river bank. They called this carni seca, and the Americans called it
+"jerked beef."
+
+Patrocina often prepared me a dish of this, when I was unable to taste
+the fresh meat. She would pound it fine with a heavy pestle, and then
+put it to simmer, seasoning it with the green or red pepper. It was most
+savory. There was no butter at all during the hot months, but our hens
+laid a few eggs, and the Quartermaster was allowed to keep a small lot
+of commissary stores, from which we drew our supplies of flour, ham, and
+canned things. We were often without milk for weeks at a time, for the
+cows crossed the river to graze, and sometimes could not get back until
+the river fell again, and they could pick their way back across the
+shifting sand bars.
+
+The Indian brought the water every morning in buckets from the river.
+It looked like melted chocolate. He filled the barrels, and when it had
+settled clear, the ollas were filled, and thus the drinking water was a
+trifle cooler than the air. One day it seemed unusually cool, so I said:
+"Let us see by the thermometer how cool the water really is." We found
+the temperature of the water to be 86 degrees; but that, with the air at
+122 in the shade, seemed quite refreshing to drink.
+
+I did not see any white people at all except Fisher, Abe Frank (the
+mail contractor), and one or two of the younger merchants. If I wanted
+anything, I went to Fisher. He always could solve the difficulty. He
+procured for me an excellent middle-aged laundress, who came and brought
+the linen herself, and, bowing to the floor, said always, "Buenos dias,
+Senorita!" dwelling on the latter word, as a gentle compliment to a
+younger woman, and then, "Mucho calor este dia," in her low, drawling
+voice.
+
+Like the others, she was spotlessly clean, modest and gentle. I asked
+her what on earth they did about bathing, for I had found the tub baths
+with the muddy water so disagreeable. She told me the women bathed in
+the river at daybreak, and asked me if I would like to go with them.
+
+I was only too glad to avail myself of her invitation, and so, like
+Pharoah's daughter of old, I went with my gentle handmaiden every
+morning to the river bank, and, wading in about knee-deep in the thick
+red waters, we sat down and let the swift current flow by us. We dared
+not go deeper; we could feel the round stones grinding against each
+other as they were carried down, and we were all afraid. It was
+difficult to keep one's foothold, and Capt. Mellon's words were ever
+ringing in my ears, "He who disappears below the surface of the Colorado
+is never seen again." But we joined hands and ventured like children
+and played like children in these red waters and after all, it was much
+nicer than a tub of muddy water indoors.
+
+A clump of low mesquite trees at the top of the bank afforded sufficient
+protection at that hour; we rubbed dry, slipped on a loose gown, and
+wended our way home. What a contrast to the limpid, bracing salt waters
+of my own beloved shores!
+
+When I thought of them, I was seized with a longing which consumed me
+and made my heart sick; and I thought of these poor people, who had
+never known anything in their lives but those desert places, and that
+muddy red water, and wondered what they would do, how they would act,
+if transported into some beautiful forest, or to the cool bright shores
+where clear blue waters invite to a plunge.
+
+Whenever the river-boat came up, we were sure to have guests, for
+many officers went into the Territory via Ehrenberg. Sometimes the
+"transportation" was awaiting them; at other times, they were obliged to
+wait at Ehrenberg until it arrived. They usually lived on the boat, as
+we had no extra rooms, but I generally asked them to luncheon or supper
+(for anything that could be called a dinner was out of the question).
+
+This caused me some anxiety, as there was nothing to be had; but I
+remembered the hospitality I had received, and thought of what they had
+been obliged to eat on the voyage, and I always asked them to share what
+we could provide, however simple it might be.
+
+At such times we heard all the news from Washington and the States, and
+all about the fashions, and they, in their turn, asked me all sorts of
+questions about Ehrenberg and how I managed to endure the life. They
+were always astonished when the Cocopah Indian waited on them at table,
+for he wore nothing but his gee-string, and although it was an every-day
+matter to us, it rather took their breath away.
+
+But "Charley" appealed to my aesthetic sense in every way. Tall, and
+well-made, with clean-cut limbs and features, fine smooth copper-colored
+skin, handsome face, heavy black hair done up in pompadour fashion and
+plastered with Colorado mud, which was baked white by the sun, a small
+feather at the crown of his head, wide turquoise bead bracelets upon his
+upper arm, and a knife at his waist--this was my Charley, my half-tame
+Cocopah, my man about the place, my butler in fact, for Charley
+understood how to open a bottle of Cocomonga gracefully, and to keep the
+glasses filled.
+
+Charley also wheeled the baby out along the river banks, for we had
+had a fine "perambulator" sent down from San Francisco. It was an
+incongruous sight, to be sure, and one must laugh to think of it. The
+Ehrenberg babies did not have carriages, and the village flocked to see
+it. There sat the fair-haired, six-months-old boy, with but one linen
+garment on, no cap, no stockings--and this wild man of the desert, his
+knife gleaming at his waist, and his gee-string floating out behind,
+wheeling and pushing the carriage along the sandy roads.
+
+But this came to an end; for one day Fisher rushed in, breathless, and
+said: "Well! here is your baby! I was just in time, for that Injun of
+yours left the carriage in the middle of the street, to look in at the
+store window, and a herd of wild cattle came tearing down! I grabbed the
+carriage to the sidewalk, cussed the Injun out, and here's the child!
+It's no use," he added, "you can't trust those Injuns out of sight."
+
+The heat was terrific. Our cots were placed in the open part of the
+corral (as our courtyard was always called). It was a desolate-looking
+place; on one side, the high adobe wall; on another, the freight-house;
+and on the other two, our apartments. Our kitchen and the two other
+rooms were now completed. The kitchen had no windows, only open spaces
+to admit the air and light, and we were often startled in the night by
+the noise of thieves in the house, rummaging for food.
+
+At such times, our soldier-cook would rush into the corral with his
+rifle, the Lieutenant would jump up and seize his shotgun, which always
+stood near by, and together they would roam through the house. But the
+thieving Indians could jump out of the windows as easily as they jumped
+in, and the excitement would soon be over. The violent sand-storms
+which prevail in those deserts, sometimes came up in the night, without
+warning; then we rushed half suffocated and blinded into the house, and
+as soon as we had closed the windows it had passed on, leaving a deep
+layer of sand on everything in the room, and on our perspiring bodies.
+
+Then came the work, next day, for the Indian had to carry everything out
+of doors; and one storm was so bad that he had to use a shovel to remove
+the sand from the floors. The desert literally blew into the house.
+
+And now we saw a singular phenomenon. In the late afternoon of each day,
+a hot steam would collect over the face of the river, then slowly rise,
+and floating over the length and breadth of this wretched hamlet of
+Ehrenberg, descend upon and envelop us. Thus we wilted and perspired,
+and had one part of the vapor bath without its bracing concomitant
+of the cool shower. In a half hour it was gone, but always left me
+prostrate; then Jack gave me milk punch, if milk was at hand, or sherry
+and egg, or something to bring me up to normal again. We got to dread
+the steam so; it was the climax of the long hot day and was peculiar
+to that part of the river. The paraphernalia by the side of our cots
+at night consisted of a pitcher of cold tea, a lantern, matches, a
+revolver, and a shotgun. Enormous yellow cats, which lived in and around
+the freight-house, darted to and fro inside and outside the house, along
+the ceiling-beams, emitting loud cries, and that alone was enough to
+prevent sleep. In the old part of the house, some of the partitions did
+not run up to the roof, but were left open (for ventilation, I suppose),
+thus making a fine play-ground for cats and rats, which darted along,
+squeaking, meowing and clattering all the night through. An uncanny
+feeling of insecurity was ever with me. What with the accumulated effect
+of the day's heat, what with the thieving Indians, the sand-storms and
+the cats, our nights by no means gave us the refreshment needed by our
+worn-out systems. By the latter part of the summer, I was so exhausted
+by the heat and the various difficulties of living, that I had become a
+mere shadow of my former self.
+
+Men and children seem to thrive in those climates, but it is death to
+women, as I had often heard.
+
+It was in the late summer that the boat arrived one day bringing a large
+number of staff officers and their wives, head clerks, and "general
+service" men for Fort Whipple. They had all been stationed in Washington
+for a number of years, having had what is known in the army as
+"gilt-edged" details. I threw a linen towel over my head, and went to
+the boat to call on them, and, remembering my voyage from San Francisco
+the year before, prepared to sympathize with them. But they had met
+their fate with resignation; knowing they should find a good climate and
+a pleasant post up in the mountains, and as they had no young children
+with them, they were disposed to make merry over their discomforts.
+
+We asked them to come to our quarters for supper, and to come early, as
+any place was cooler than the boat, lying down there in the melting sun,
+and nothing to look upon but those hot zinc-covered decks or the ragged
+river banks, with their uninviting huts scattered along the edge.
+
+The surroundings somehow did not fit these people. Now Mrs. Montgomery
+at Camp Apache seemed to have adapted herself to the rude setting of
+a log cabin in the mountains, but these were Staff people and they
+had enjoyed for years the civilized side of army life; now they were
+determined to rough it, but they did not know how to begin.
+
+The beautiful wife of the Adjutant-General was mourning over some
+freckles which had come to adorn her dazzling complexion, and she had
+put on a large hat with a veil. Was there ever anything so incongruous
+as a hat and veil in Ehrenberg! For a long time I had not seen a woman
+in a hat; the Mexicans all wore a linen towel over their heads.
+
+But her beauty was startling, and, after all, I thought, a woman so
+handsome must try to live up to her reputation. Now for some weeks Jack
+had been investigating the sulphur well, which was beneath the old pump
+in our corral. He had had a long wooden bath-tub built, and I watched it
+with a lazy interest, and observed his glee as he found a longshoreman
+or roustabout who could caulk it. The shape was exactly like a coffin
+(but men have no imaginations), and when I told him how it made me feel
+to look at it, he said: "Oh! you are always thinking of gloomy things.
+It's a fine tub, and we are mighty lucky to find that man to caulk it.
+I'm going to set it up in the little square room, and lead the sulphur
+water into it, and it will be splendid, and just think," he added, "what
+it will do for rheumatism!"
+
+Now Jack had served in the Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteers during the
+Civil War, and the swamps of the Chickahominy had brought him into close
+acquaintance with that dread disease.
+
+As for myself, rheumatism was about the only ailment I did not have at
+that time, and I suppose I did not really sympathize with him. But this
+energetic and indomitable man mended the pump, with Fisher's help, and
+led the water into the house, laid a floor, set up the tub in the little
+square room, and behold, our sulphur bath!
+
+After much persuasion, I tried the bath. The water flowed thick and inky
+black into the tub; of course the odor was beyond description, and the
+effect upon me was not such that I was ever willing to try it again.
+Jack beamed. "How do you like it, Martha?" said he. "Isn't it fine? Why
+people travel hundreds of miles to get a bath like that!"
+
+I had my own opinion, but I did not wish to dampen his enthusiasm.
+Still, in order to protect myself in the future, I had to tell him I
+thought I should ordinarily prefer the river.
+
+"Well," he said, "there are those who will be thankful to have a bath in
+that water; I am going to use it every day."
+
+I remonstrated: "How do you know what is in that inky water--and how do
+you dare to use it?"
+
+"Oh, Fisher says it's all right; people here used to drink it years ago,
+but they have not done so lately, because the pump was broken down."
+
+The Washington people seemed glad to pay us the visit. Jack's eyes
+danced with true generosity and glee. He marked his victim; and,
+selecting the Staff beauty and the Paymaster's wife, he expatiated on
+the wonderful properties of his sulphur bath.
+
+"Why, yes, the sooner the better," said Mrs. Martin. "I'd give
+everything I have in this world, and all my chances for the next, to get
+a tub bath!"
+
+"It will be so refreshing just before supper," said Mrs. Maynadier, who
+was more conservative.
+
+So the Indian, who had put on his dark blue waist-band (or sash), made
+from flannel, revelled out and twisted into strands of yarn, and which
+showed the supple muscles of his clean-cut thighs, and who had done up
+an extra high pompadour in white clay, and burnished his knife, which
+gleamed at his waist, ushered these Washington women into a small
+apartment adjoining the bath-room, and turned on the inky stream into
+the sarcophagus.
+
+The Staff beauty looked at the black pool, and shuddered. "Do you use
+it?" said she.
+
+"Occasionally," I equivocated.
+
+"Does it hurt the complexion?" she ventured.
+
+"Jack thinks it excellent for that," I replied.
+
+And then I left them, directing Charley to wait, and prepare the bath
+for the second victim.
+
+By and by the beauty came out. "Where is your mirror?" cried she (for
+our appointments were primitive, and mirrors did not grow on bushes at
+Ehrenberg); "I fancy I look queer," she added, and, in truth, she did;
+for our water of the Styx did not seem to affiliate with the chemical
+properties of the numerous cosmetics used by her, more or less, all her
+life, but especially on the voyage, and her face had taken on a queer
+color, with peculiar spots here and there.
+
+Fortunately my mirrors were neither large nor true, and she never really
+saw how she looked, but when she came back into the living-room, she
+laughed and said to Jack: "What kind of water did you say that was? I
+never saw any just like it."
+
+"Oh! you have probably never been much to the sulphur springs," said he,
+with his most superior and crushing manner.
+
+"Perhaps not," she replied, "but I thought I knew something about it;
+why, my entire body turned such a queer color."
+
+"Oh! it always does that," said this optimistic soldier man, "and that
+shows it is doing good."
+
+The Paymaster's wife joined us later. I think she had profited by the
+beauty's experience, for she said but little.
+
+The Quartermaster was happy; and what if his wife did not believe
+in that uncanny stream which flowed somewhere from out the infernal
+regions, underlying that wretched hamlet, he had succeeded in being a
+benefactor to two travellers at least!
+
+We had a merry supper: cold ham, chicken, and fresh biscuit, a plenty of
+good Cocomonga wine, sweet milk, which to be sure turned to curds as it
+stood on the table, some sort of preserves from a tin, and good coffee.
+I gave them the best to be had in the desert--and at all events it was a
+change from the Chinaman's salt beef and peach pies, and they saw fresh
+table linen and shining silver, and accepted our simple hospitality in
+the spirit in which we gave it.
+
+Alice Martin was much amused over Charley; and Charley could do nothing
+but gaze on her lovely features. "Why on earth don't you put some
+clothes on him?" laughed she, in her delightful way.
+
+I explained to her that the Indian's fashion of wearing white men's
+clothes was not pleasing to the eye, and told her that she must
+cultivate her aesthetic sense, and in a short time she would be able to
+admire these copper-colored creatures of Nature as much as I did.
+
+But I fear that a life spent mostly in a large city had cast fetters
+around her imagination, and that the life at Fort Whipple afterwards
+savored too much of civilization to loosen the bonds of her soul. I
+saw her many times again, but she never recovered from her amazement at
+Charley's lack of apparel, and she never forgot the sulphur bath.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX. MY DELIVERER
+
+One day, in the early autumn, as the "Gila" touched at Ehrenberg, on her
+way down river, Captain Mellon called Jack on to the boat, and, pointing
+to a young woman, who was about to go ashore, said: "Now, there's a girl
+I think will do for your wife. She imagines she has bronchial troubles,
+and some doctor has ordered her to Tucson. She comes from up North
+somewhere. Her money has given out, and she thinks I am going to leave
+her here. Of course, you know I would not do that; I can take her on
+down to Yuma, but I thought your wife might like to have her, so I've
+told her she could not travel on this boat any farther without she could
+pay her fare. Speak to her: she looks to me like a nice sort of a girl."
+
+In the meantime, the young woman had gone ashore and was sitting upon
+her trunk, gazing hopelessly about. Jack approached, offered her a home
+and good wages, and brought her to me.
+
+I could have hugged her for very joy, but I restrained myself and
+advised her to stay with us for awhile, saying the Ehrenberg climate was
+quite as good as that of Tucson.
+
+She remarked quietly: "You do not look as if it agreed with you very
+well, ma'am."
+
+Then I told her of my young child, and my hard journeys, and she decided
+to stay until she could earn enough to reach Tucson.
+
+And so Ellen became a member of our Ehrenberg family. She was a fine,
+strong girl, and a very good cook, and seemed to be in perfect health.
+She said, however, that she had had an obstinate cough which nothing
+would reach, and that was why she came to Arizona. From that time,
+things went more smoothly. Some yeast was procured from the Mexican
+bakeshop, and Ellen baked bread and other things, which seemed like the
+greatest luxuries to us. We sent the soldier back to his company at Fort
+Yuma, and began to live with a degree of comfort.
+
+I looked at Ellen as my deliverer, and regarded her coming as a special
+providence, the kind I had heard about all my life in New England, but
+had never much believed in.
+
+After a few weeks, Ellen was one evening seized with a dreadful
+toothache, which grew so severe that she declared she could not endure
+it another hour: she must have the tooth out. "Was there a dentist in
+the place?"
+
+I looked at Jack: he looked at me: Ellen groaned with pain.
+
+"Why, yes! of course there is," said this man for emergencies; "Fisher
+takes out teeth, he told me so the other day."
+
+Now I did not believe that Fisher knew any more about extracting teeth
+than I did myself, but I breathed a prayer to the Recording Angel, and
+said naught.
+
+"I'll go get Fisher," said Jack.
+
+Now Fisher was the steamboat agent. He stood six feet in his stockings,
+had a powerful physique and a determined eye. Men in those countries had
+to be determined; for if they once lost their nerve, Heaven save them.
+Fisher had handsome black eyes.
+
+When they came in, I said: "Can you attend to this business, Mr.
+Fisher?"
+
+"I think so," he replied, quietly. "The Quartermaster says he has some
+forceps."
+
+I gasped. Jack, who had left the room, now appeared, a box of
+instruments in his hand, his eyes shining with joy and triumph.
+
+Fisher took the box, and scanned it. "I guess they'll do," said he.
+
+So we placed Ellen in a chair, a stiff barrack chair, with a raw-hide
+seat, and no arms.
+
+It was evening.
+
+"Mattie, you must hold the candle," said Jack. "I'll hold Ellen, and,
+Fisher, you pull the tooth."
+
+So I lighted the candle, and held it, while Ellen tried, by its
+flickering light, to show Fisher the tooth that ached.
+
+Fisher looked again at the box of instruments. "Why," said he, "these
+are lower jaw rollers, the kind used a hundred years ago; and her tooth
+is an upper jaw."
+
+"Never mind," answered the Lieutenant, "the instruments are all right.
+Fisher, you can get the tooth out, that's all you want, isn't it?"
+
+The Lieutenant was impatient; and besides he did not wish any slur cast
+upon his precious instruments.
+
+So Fisher took up the forceps, and clattered around amongst Ellen's
+sound white teeth. His hand shook, great beads of perspiration gathered
+on his face, and I perceived a very strong odor of Cocomonga wine. He
+had evidently braced for the occasion.
+
+It was, however, too late to protest. He fastened onto a molar, and with
+the lion's strength which lay in his gigantic frame, he wrenched it out.
+
+Ellen put up her hand and felt the place. "My God! you've pulled the
+wrong tooth!" cried she, and so he had.
+
+I seized a jug of red wine which stood near by, and poured out a
+gobletful, which she drank. The blood came freely from her mouth, and I
+feared something dreadful had happened.
+
+Fisher declared she had shown him the wrong tooth, and was perfectly
+willing to try again. I could not witness the second attempt, so I put
+the candle down and fled.
+
+The stout-hearted and confiding girl allowed the second trial, and
+between the steamboat agent, the Lieutenant, and the red wine, the
+aching molar was finally extracted.
+
+This was a serious and painful occurrence. It did not cause any of us
+to laugh, at the time. I am sure that Ellen, at least, never saw the
+comical side of it.
+
+When it was all over, I thanked Fisher, and Jack beamed upon me with:
+"You see, Mattie, my case of instruments did come in handy, after all."
+
+Encouraged by success, he applied for a pannier of medicines, and the
+Ehrenberg citizens soon regarded him as a healer. At a certain hour in
+the morning, the sick ones came to his office, and he dispensed simple
+drugs to them and was enabled to do much good. He seemed to have a sort
+of intuitive knowledge about medicines and performed some miraculous
+cures, but acquired little or no facility in the use of the language.
+
+I was often called in as interpreter, and with the help of the sign
+language, and the little I knew of Spanish, we managed to get an idea of
+the ailments of these poor people.
+
+And so our life flowed on in that desolate spot, by the banks of the
+Great Colorado.
+
+I rarely went outside the enclosure, except for my bath in the river at
+daylight, or for some urgent matter. The one street along the river was
+hot and sandy and neglected. One had not only to wade through the sand,
+but to step over the dried heads or horns or bones of animals left there
+to whiten where they died, or thrown out, possibly, when some one killed
+a sheep or beef. Nothing decayed there, but dried and baked hard in that
+wonderful air and sun.
+
+Then, the groups of Indians, squaws and halfbreeds loafing around the
+village and the store! One never felt sure what one was to meet, and
+although by this time I tolerated about everything that I had been
+taught to think wicked or immoral, still, in Ehrenberg, the limit was
+reached, in the sights I saw on the village streets, too bold and too
+rude to be described in these pages.
+
+The few white men there led respectable lives enough for that country.
+The standard was not high, and when I thought of the dreary years they
+had already spent there without their families, and the years they must
+look forward to remaining there, I was willing to reserve my judgement.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI. WINTER IN EHRENBERG
+
+We asked my sister, Mrs. Penniman, to come out and spend the winter with
+us, and to bring her son, who was in most delicate health. It was said
+that the climate of Ehrenberg would have a magical effect upon all
+diseases of the lungs or throat. So, to save her boy, my sister made
+the long and arduous trip out from New England, arriving in Ehrenberg in
+October.
+
+What a joy to see her, and to initiate her into the ways of our life in
+Arizona! Everything was new, everything was a wonder to her and to my
+nephew. At first, he seemed to gain perceptibly, and we had great hopes
+of his recovery.
+
+It was now cool enough to sleep indoors, and we began to know what it
+was to have a good night's rest.
+
+But no sooner had we gotten one part of our life comfortably arranged,
+before another part seemed to fall out of adjustment. Accidents and
+climatic conditions kept my mind in a perpetual state of unrest.
+
+Our dining-room door opened through two small rooms into the kitchen,
+and one day, as I sat at the table, waiting for Jack to come in to
+supper, I heard a strange sort of crashing noise. Looking towards the
+kitchen, through the vista of open doorways, I saw Ellen rush to the
+door which led to the courtyard. She turned a livid white, threw up
+her hands, and cried, "Great God! the Captain!" She was transfixed with
+horror.
+
+I flew to the door, and saw that the pump had collapsed and gone down
+into the deep sulphur well. In a second, Jack's head and hands appeared
+at the edge; he seemed to be caught in the debris of rotten timber.
+Before I could get to him, he had scrambled half way out. "Don't come
+near this place," he cried, "it's all caving in!"
+
+And so it seemed; for, as he worked himself up and out, the entire
+structure feel in, and half the corral with it, as it looked to me.
+
+Jack escaped what might have been an unlucky bath in his sulphur well,
+and we all recovered our composure as best we could.
+
+Surely, if life was dull at Ehrenberg, it could not be called exactly
+monotonous. We were not obliged to seek our excitement outside; we had
+plenty of it, such as it was, within our walls.
+
+My confidence in Ehrenberg, however, as a salubrious dwelling-place, was
+being gradually and literally undermined. I began to be distrustful of
+the very ground beneath my feet. Ellen felt the same way, evidently,
+although we did not talk much about it. She probably longed also
+for some of her own kind; and when, one morning, we went into the
+dining-room for breakfast, Ellen stood, hat on, bag in hand, at the
+door. Dreading to meet my chagrin, she said: "Good-bye, Captain;
+good-bye, missis, you've been very kind to me. I'm leaving on the stage
+for Tucson--where I first started for, you know."
+
+And she tripped out and climbed up into the dusty, rickety vehicle
+called "the stage." I had felt so safe about Ellen, as I did not know
+that any stage line ran through the place.
+
+And now I was in a fine plight! I took a sunshade, and ran over to
+Fisher's house. "Mr. Fisher, what shall I do? Ellen has gone to Tucson!"
+
+Fisher bethought himself, and we went out together in the village. Not
+a woman to be found who would come to cook for us! There was only one
+thing to do. The Quartermaster was allowed a soldier, to assist in the
+Government work. I asked him if he understood cooking; he said he had
+never done any, but he would try, if I would show him how.
+
+This proved a hopeless task, and I finally gave it up. Jack dispatched
+an Indian runner to Fort Yuma, ninety miles or more down river, begging
+Captain Ernest to send us a soldier-cook on the next boat.
+
+This was a long time to wait; the inconveniences were intolerable: there
+were our four selves, Patrocina and Jesusita, the soldier-clerk and the
+Indian, to be provided for: Patrocina prepared carni seca with peppers,
+a little boy came around with cuajada, a delicious sweet curd cheese,
+and I tried my hand at bread, following out Ellen's instructions.
+
+How often I said to my husband. "If we must live in this wretched place,
+let's give up civilization and live as the Mexicans do! They are the
+only happy beings around here.
+
+"Look at them, as you pass along the street! At nearly any hour in the
+day you can see them, sitting under their ramada, their backs propped
+against the wall of their casa, calmly smoking cigarettes and gazing at
+nothing, with a look of ineffable contentment upon their features! They
+surely have solved the problem of life!"
+
+But we seemed never to be able to free ourselves from the fetters of
+civilization, and so I struggled on.
+
+One evening after dusk, I went into the kitchen, opened the kitchen
+closet door to take out some dish, when clatter! bang! down fell the
+bread-pan, and a shower of other tin ware, and before I could fairly get
+my breath, out jumped two young squaws and without deigning to glance
+at me they darted across the kitchen and leaped out the window like two
+frightened fawn.
+
+They had on nothing but their birthday clothes and as I was somewhat
+startled at the sight of them, I stood transfixed, my eyes gazing at the
+open space through which they had flown.
+
+Charley, the Indian, was in the corral, filling the ollas, and, hearing
+the commotion, came in and saw just the disappearing heels of the two
+squaws.
+
+I said, very sternly: "Charley, how came those squaws in my closet?" He
+looked very much ashamed and said: "Oh, me tell you: bad man go to kill
+'em; I hide 'em."
+
+"Well," said I, "do not hide any more girls in this casa! You savez
+that?"
+
+He bowed his head in acquiescence.
+
+I afterwards learned that one of the girls was his sister.
+
+The weather was now fairly comfortable, and in the evenings we sat under
+the ramada, in front of the house, and watched the beautiful pink
+glow which spread over the entire heavens and illuminated the distant
+mountains of Lower California. I have never seen anything like that
+wonderful color, which spread itself over sky, river and desert. For an
+hour, one could have believed oneself in a magician's realm.
+
+At about this time, the sad-eyed Patrocina found it expedient to
+withdraw into the green valleys of Lower California, to recuperate for a
+few months. With the impish Jesusita in her arms, she bade me a mournful
+good-bye. Worthless as she was from the standpoint of civilized morals,
+I was attached to her and felt sorry to part with her.
+
+Then I took a Mexican woman from Chihuahua. Now the Chihuahuans hold
+their heads high, and it was rather with awe that I greeted the tall
+middle-aged Chihuahuan lady who came to be our little son's nurse. Her
+name was Angela. "Angel of light," I thought, how fortunate I am to get
+her!
+
+After a few weeks, Fisher observed that the whole village was eating
+Ferris ham, an unusual delicacy in Ehrenberg, and that the Goldwaters'
+had sold none. So he suggested that our commissary storehouse be looked
+to; and it was found that a dozen hams or so had been withdrawn from
+their canvas covers, the covers stuffed with straw, and hung back in
+place. Verily the Chihuahuan was adding to her pin-money in a most
+unworthy fashion, and she had to go. After that, I was left without a
+nurse. My little son was now about nine months old.
+
+Milk began to be more plentiful at this season, and, with my sister's
+advice and help, I decided to make the one great change in a baby's life
+i.e., to take him from his mother. Modern methods were unknown then, and
+we had neither of us any experience in these matters and there was no
+doctor in the place.
+
+The result was, that both the baby and myself were painfully and
+desperately ill and not knowing which way to turn for aid, when, by a
+lucky turn of Fortune's wheel, our good, dear Doctor Henry Lippincott
+came through Ehrenberg on his way out to the States. Once more he took
+care of us, and it is to him that I believe I owe my life.
+
+Captain Ernest sent us a cook from Yuma, and soon some officers came
+for the duck-shooting. There were thousands of ducks around the various
+lagoons in the neighborhood, and the sport was rare. We had all the
+ducks we could eat.
+
+Then came an earthquake, which tore and rent the baked earth apart. The
+ground shivered, the windows rattled, the birds fell close to the ground
+and could not fly, the stove-pipes fell to the floor, the thick walls
+cracked and finally, the earth rocked to and fro like some huge thing
+trying to get its balance.
+
+It was in the afternoon. My sister and I were sitting with our
+needle-work in the living-room. Little Harry was on the floor, occupied
+with some toys. I was paralyzed with fear; my sister did not move. We
+sat gazing at each other, scarce daring to breathe, expecting every
+instant the heavy walls to crumble about our heads. The earth rocked and
+rocked, and rocked again, then swayed and swayed and finally was still.
+My sister caught Harry in her arms, and then Jack and Willie came
+breathlessly in. "Did you feel it?" said Jack.
+
+"Did we feel it!" said I, scornfully.
+
+Sarah was silent, and I looked so reproachfully at Jack, that he
+dropped his light tone, and said: "It was pretty awful. We were in the
+Goldwaters' store, when suddenly it grew dark and the lamps above our
+heads began to rattle and swing, and we all rushed out into the middle
+of the street and stood, rather dazed, for we scarcely knew what had
+happened; then we hurried home. But it's all over now."
+
+"I do not believe it," said I; "we shall have more"; and, in fact, we
+did have two light shocks in the night, but no more followed, and the
+next morning, we recovered, in a measure, from our fright and went out
+to see the great fissures in that treacherous crust of earth upon which
+Ehrenberg was built.
+
+I grew afraid, after that, and the idea that the earth would eventually
+open and engulf us all took possession of my mind.
+
+My health, already weakened by shocks and severe strains, gave way
+entirely. I, who had gloried in the most perfect health, and had a
+constitution of iron, became an emaciated invalid.
+
+From my window, one evening at sundown, I saw a weird procession moving
+slowly along towards the outskirts of the village. It must be a funeral,
+thought I, and it flashed across my mind that I had never seen the
+burying-ground.
+
+A man with a rude cross led the procession. Then came some Mexicans with
+violins and guitars. After the musicians, came the body of the deceased,
+wrapped in a white cloth, borne on a bier by friends, and followed by
+the little band of weeping women, with black ribosos folded about their
+heads. They did not use coffins at Ehrenberg, because they had none, I
+suppose.
+
+The next day I asked Jack to walk to the grave-yard with me. He
+postponed it from day to day, but I insisted upon going. At last, he
+took me to see it.
+
+There was no enclosure, but the bare, sloping, sandy place was sprinkled
+with graves, marked by heaps of stones, and in some instances by rude
+crosses of wood, some of which had been wrenched from their upright
+position by the fierce sand-storms. There was not a blade of grass, a
+tree, or a flower. I walked about among these graves, and close beside
+some of them I saw deep holes and whitnened bones. I was quite ignorant
+or unthinking, and asked what the holes were.
+
+"It is where the coyotes and wolves come in the nights," said Jack.
+
+My heart sickened as I thought of these horrors, and I wondered if
+Ehrenberg held anything in store for me worse than what I had already
+seen. We turned away from this unhallowed grave-yard and walked to our
+quarters. I had never known much about "nerves," but I began to see
+spectres in the night, and those ghastly graves with their coyote-holes
+were ever before me. The place was but a stone's throw from us, and the
+uneasy spirits from these desecrated graves began to haunt me. I
+could not sit alone on the porch at night, for they peered through the
+lattice, and mocked at me, and beckoned. Some had no heads, some no
+arms, but they pointed or nodded towards the grewsome burying-ground:
+"You'll be with us soon, you'll be with us soon."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII. RETURN TO THE STATES
+
+I dream of the east wind's tonic, Of the breakers' stormy roar, And the
+peace of the inner harbor With the long low Shimmo shore.
+
+* * * *
+
+I long for the buoy-bell's tolling When the north wind brings from afar
+The smooth, green, shining billows, To be churned into foam on the bar.
+
+Oh! for the sea-gulls' screaming As they swoop so bold and free! Oh! for
+the fragrant commons, And the glorious open sea!--
+
+For the restful great contentment, For the joy that is never known Till
+past the jetty and Brant Point Light The Islander comes to his own!
+
+--MARY E. STARBUCK.
+
+
+"I must send you out. I see that you cannot stand it here another
+month," said Jack one day; and so he bundled us onto the boat in the
+early spring, and took us down the river to meet the ocean steamer.
+
+There was no question about it this time, and I well knew it.
+
+I left my sister and her son in Ehrenberg, and I never saw my nephew
+again. A month later, his state of health became so alarming that my
+sister took him to San Francisco. He survived the long voyage, but died
+there a few weeks later at the home of my cousin.
+
+At Fort Yuma we telegraphed all over the country for a nurse, but no
+money would tempt those Mexican women to face an ocean voyage. Jack put
+me on board the old "Newbern" in charge of the Captain, waited to see
+our vessel under way, then waved good-bye from the deck of the "Gila,"
+and turned his face towards his post and duty. I met the situation
+as best I could, and as I have already described a voyage on this old
+craft, I shall not again enter into details. There was no stewardess
+on board, and all arrangements were of the crudest description. Both
+my child and I were seasick all the way, and the voyage lasted sixteen
+days. Our misery was very great.
+
+The passengers were few in number, only a couple of Mexican miners
+who had been prospecting, an irritable old Mexican woman, and a German
+doctor, who was agreeable but elusive.
+
+The old Mexican woman sat on the deck all day, with her back against the
+stateroom door; she was a picturesque and indolent figure.
+
+There was no diversion, no variety; my little boy required constant care
+and watching. The days seemed endless. Everbody bought great bunches of
+green bananas at the ports in Mexico, where we stopped for passengers.
+
+The old woman was irritable, and one day when she saw the agreeable
+German doctor pulling bananas from the bunch which she had hung in the
+sun to ripen, she got up muttering "Carramba," and shaking her fist
+in his face. He appeased her wrath by offering her, in the most fluent
+Spanish, some from his own bunch when they should be ripe.
+
+Such were my surroundings on the old "Newbern." The German doctor
+was interesting, and I loved to talk with him, on days when I was not
+seasick, and to read the letters which he had received from his family,
+who were living on their Rittergut (or landed estates) in Prussia.
+
+He amused me by tales of his life at a wretched little mining village
+somewhere about fifty miles from Ehrenberg, and I was always wondering
+how he came to have lived there.
+
+He had the keenest sense of humor, and as I listened to the tales of
+his adventures and miraculous escapes from death at the hands of these
+desperate folk, I looked in his large laughing blue eyes and tried to
+solve the mystery.
+
+For that he was of noble birth and of ancient family there was no doubt.
+There were the letters, there was the crest, and here was the offshoot
+of the family. I made up my mind that he was a ne'er-do-weel and a
+rolling stone. He was elusive, and, beyond his adventures, told me
+nothing of himself. It was some time after my arrival in San Francisco
+that I learned more about him.
+
+Now, after we rounded Cape St. Lucas, we were caught in the long heavy
+swell of the Pacific Ocean, and it was only at intervals that my little
+boy and I could leave our stateroom. The doctor often held him while I
+ran below to get something to eat, and I can never forget his kindness;
+and if, as I afterward heard in San Francisco, he really had entered
+the "Gate of a hundred sorrows," it would perhaps best explain his
+elusiveness, his general condition, and his sometimes dazed expression.
+
+A gentle and kindly spirit, met by chance, known through the propinquity
+of a sixteen days' voyage, and never forgotten.
+
+Everything comes to an end, however interminable it may seem, and at
+last the sharp and jagged outlines of the coast began to grow softer and
+we approached the Golden Gate.
+
+The old "Newbern," with nothing in her but ballast, rolled and lurched
+along, through the bright green waters of the outer bar. I stood leaning
+against the great mast, steadying myself as best I could, and the tears
+rolled down my face; for I saw the friendly green hills, and before me
+lay the glorious bay of San Francisco. I had left behind me the deserts,
+the black rocks, the burning sun, the snakes, the scorpions, the
+centipedes, the Indians and the Ehrenberg graveyard; and so the tears
+flowed, and I did not try to stop them; they were tears of joy.
+
+The custom officers wanted to confiscate the great bundles of Mexican
+cigarettes they found in my trunk, but "No," I told them, "they were for
+my own use." They raised their eyebrows, gave me one look, and put them
+back into the trunk.
+
+My beloved California relatives met us, and took care of us for a
+fortnight, and when I entered a Pullman car for a nine days' journey to
+my old home, it seemed like the most luxurious comfort, although I had
+a fourteen-months-old child in my arms, and no nurse. So does everything
+in this life go by comparison.
+
+Arriving in Boston, my sister Harriet met me at the train, and as
+she took little Harry from my arms she cried: "Where did you get that
+sunbonnet? Now the baby can't wear that in Boston!"
+
+Of course we were both thinking hard of all that had happened to me
+since we parted, on the morning after my wedding, two years before, and
+we were so overcome with the joy of meeting, that if it had not been for
+the baby's white sunbonnet, I do not know what kind of a scene we might
+have made. That saved the situation, and after a few days of rest and
+necessary shopping, we started for our old home in Nantucket. Such a
+welcome as the baby and I had from my mother and father and all old
+friends!
+
+But I saw sadness in their faces, and I heard it in their voices, for no
+one thought I could possibly live. I felt, however, sure it was not too
+late. I knew the East wind's tonic would not fail me, its own child.
+
+Stories of our experiences and misfortunes were eagerly listened to, by
+the family, and betwixt sighs and laughter they declared they were going
+to fill some boxes which should contain everything necessary for comfort
+in those distant places. So one room in our old house was set apart for
+this; great boxes were brought, and day by day various articles, useful,
+ornamental, and comfortable, and precious heirlooms of silver and glass,
+were packed away in them. It was the year of 1876, the year of the great
+Centennial, at Philadelphia. Everybody went, but it had no attractions
+for me. I was happy enough, enjoying the health-giving air and the
+comforts of an Eastern home. I wondered that I had ever complained about
+anything there, or wished to leave that blissful spot.
+
+The poorest person in that place by the sea had more to be thankful for,
+in my opinion, than the richest people in Arizona. I felt as if I must
+cry it out from the house-tops. My heart was thankful every minute of
+the day and night, for every breath of soft air that I breathed, for
+every bit of fresh fish that I ate, for fresh vegetables, and for
+butter--for gardens, for trees, for flowers, for the good firm earth
+beneath my feet. I wrote the man on detached service that I should never
+return to Ehrenberg.
+
+After eight months, in which my health was wholly restored, I heard the
+good news that Captain Corliss had applied for his first lieutenant, and
+I decided to join him at once at Camp MacDowell.
+
+Although I had not wholly forgotten that Camp MacDowell had been called
+by very bad names during our stay at Fort Whipple, at the time that Jack
+decided on the Ehrenberg detail, I determined to brave it, in all its
+unattractiveness, isolation and heat, for I knew there was a garrison
+and a Doctor there, and a few officers' families, I knew supplies were
+to be obtained and the ordinary comforts of a far-off post. Then too,
+in my summer in the East I had discovered that I was really a soldier's
+wife and I must go back to it all. To the army with its glitter and
+its misery, to the post with its discomforts, to the soldiers, to the
+drills, to the bugle-calls, to the monotony, to the heat of Southern
+Arizona, to the uniform and the stalwart Captains and gay Lieutenants
+who wore it, I felt the call and I must go.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII. BACK TO ARIZONA
+
+The last nails were driven in the precious boxes, and I started overland
+in November with my little son, now nearly two years old.
+
+"Overland" in those days meant nine days from New York to San Francisco.
+Arriving in Chicago, I found it impossible to secure a section on the
+Pullman car so was obliged to content myself with a lower berth. I did
+not allow myself to be disappointed.
+
+On entering the section, I saw an enormous pair of queer cow hide shoes,
+the very queerest shoes I had ever seen, lying on the floor, with a much
+used travelling bag. I speculated a good deal on the shoes, but did not
+see the owner of them until several hours later, when a short thick-set
+German with sandy close-cut beard entered and saluted me politely. "You
+are noticing my shoes perhaps Madame?"
+
+"Yes" I said, involuntarily answering him in German.
+
+His face shone with pleasure and he explained to me that they were made
+in Russia and he always wore them when travelling. "What have we," I
+thought, "an anarchist?"
+
+But with the inexperience and fearlessness of youth, I entered into a
+most delightful conversation in German with him. I found him rather an
+extraordinarily well educated gentleman and he said he lived in Nevada,
+but had been over to Vienna to place his little boy at a military
+school, "as," he said, "there is nothing like a uniform to give a
+boy self-respect." He said his wife had died several months before. I
+congratulated myself that the occupant of the upper berth was at least a
+gentleman.
+
+The next day, as we sat opposite each other chatting, always in German,
+he paused, and fixing his eyes rather steadily upon me he remarked: "Do
+you think I put on mourning when my wife died? no indeed, I put on white
+kid gloves and had a fiddler and danced at the grave. All this mourning
+that people have is utter nonsense."
+
+I was amazed at the turn his conversation had taken and sat quite still,
+not knowing just what to say or to do.
+
+After awhile, he looked at me steadily, and said, very deferentially,
+"Madame, the spirit of my dead wife is looking at me from out your
+eyes."
+
+By this time I realized that the man was a maniac, and I had always
+heard that one must agree with crazy people, so I nodded, and that
+seemed to satisfy him, and bye and bye after some minutes which seemed
+like hours to me, he went off to the smoking room.
+
+The tension was broken and I appealed to a very nice looking woman who
+happened to be going to some place in Nevada near which this Doctor
+lived, and she said, when I told her his name, "Why, yes, I heard of
+him before I left home, he lives in Silver City, and at the death of
+his wife, he went hopelessly insane, but," she added, "he is harmless, I
+believe."
+
+This was a nice fix, to be sure, and I staid over in her section all
+day, and late that night the Doctor arrived at the junction where he
+was to take another train. So I slept in peace, after a considerable
+agitation.
+
+There is nothing like experience to teach a young woman how to travel
+alone.
+
+In San Francisco I learned that I could now go as far as Los Angeles by
+rail, thence by steamer to San Diego, and so on by stage to Fort Yuma,
+where my husband was to meet me with an ambulance and a wagon.
+
+I was enchanted with the idea of avoiding the long sea-trip down the
+Pacific coast, but sent my boxes down by the Steamer "Montana," sister
+ship of the old "Newbern," and after a few days' rest in San Francisco,
+set forth by rail for Los Angeles. At San Pedro, the port of Los
+Angeles, we embarked for San Diego. It was a heavenly night. I sat
+on deck enjoying the calm sea, and listening to the romantic story of
+Lieutenant Philip Reade, then stationed at San Diego. He was telling the
+story himself, and I had never read or heard of anything so mysterious
+or so tragic.
+
+Then, too, aside from the story, Mr. Reade was a very good-looking and
+chivalrous young army officer. He was returning to his station in San
+Diego, and we had this pleasant opportunity to renew what had been a
+very slight acquaintance.
+
+The calm waters of the Pacific, with their long and gentle swell, the
+pale light of the full moon, our steamer gliding so quietly along, the
+soft air of the California coast, the absence of noisy travellers, these
+made a fit setting for the story of his early love and marriage, and the
+tragic mystery which surrounded the death of his young bride.
+
+All the romance which lived and will ever live in me was awake to the
+story, and the hours passed all too quickly.
+
+But a cry from my little boy in the near-by deck stateroom recalled me
+to the realities of life and I said good-night, having spent one of the
+most delightful evenings I ever remember.
+
+Mr. Reade wears now a star on his shoulder, and well earned it is, too.
+I wonder if he has forgotten how he helped to bind up my little boy's
+finger which had been broken in an accident on the train from San
+Francisco to Los Angeles? or how he procured a surgeon for me on our
+arrival there, and got a comfortable room for us at the hotel? or how he
+took us to drive (with an older lady for a chaperon), or how he kindly
+cared for us until we were safely on the boat that evening? If I had
+ever thought chivalry dead, I learned then that I had been mistaken.
+
+San Diego charmed me, as we steamed, the next morning, into its shining
+bay. But as our boat was two hours late and the stage-coach was waiting,
+I had to decline Mr. Reade's enchanting offers to drive us around the
+beautiful place, to show me the fine beaches, and his quarters, and all
+other points of interest in this old town of Southern California.
+
+Arizona, not San Diego, was my destination, so we took a hasty breakfast
+at the hotel and boarded the stage, which, filled with passengers, was
+waiting before the door.
+
+The driver waited for no ceremonies, muttered something about being
+late, cracked his whip, and away we went. I tried to stow myself and my
+little boy and my belongings away comfortably, but the road was rough
+and the coach swayed, and I gave it up. There were passengers on top of
+the coach, and passengers inside the coach. One woman who was totally
+deaf, and some miners and blacksmiths, and a few other men, the flotsam
+and jetsam of the Western countries, who come from no one knoweth
+whence, and who go, no one knoweth whither, who have no trade or
+profession and are sometimes even without a name.
+
+They seemed to want to be kind to me. Harry got very stage-sick and gave
+us much trouble, and they all helped me to hold him. Night came. I do
+not remember that we made any stops at all; if we did, I have forgotten
+them. The night on that stage-coach can be better imagined than
+described. I do not know of any adjectives that I could apply to it.
+Just before dawn, we stopped to change horses and driver, and as the
+day began to break, we felt ourselves going down somewhere at a terrific
+speed.
+
+The great Concord coach slipped and slid and swayed on its huge springs
+as we rounded the curves.
+
+The road was narrow and appeared to be cut out of solid rock, which
+seemed to be as smooth as soapstone; the four horses were put to their
+speed, and down and around and away we went. I drew in my breath as I
+looked out and over into the abyss on my left. Death and destruction
+seemed to be the end awaiting us all. Everybody was limp, when we
+reached the bottom--that is, I was limp, and I suppose the others were.
+The stage-driver knew I was frightened, because I sat still and looked
+white and he came and lifted me out. He lived in a small cabin at the
+bottom of the mountain; I talked with him some. "The fact is," he said,
+"we are an hour late this morning; we always make it a point to 'do it'
+before dawn, so the passengers can't see anything; they are almost sure
+to get stampeded if we come down by daylight."
+
+I mentioned this road afterwards in San Francisco, and learned that it
+was a famous road, cut out of the side of a solid mountain of rock; long
+talked of, long desired, and finally built, at great expense, by the
+state and the county together; that they always had the same man to
+drive over it, and that they never did it by daylight. I did not inquire
+if there had ever been any accidents. I seemed to have learned all I
+wanted to know about it.
+
+After a little rest and a breakfast at a sort of roadhouse, a relay of
+horses was taken, and we travelled one more day over a flat country, to
+the end of the stage-route. Jack was to meet me. Already from the stage
+I had espied the post ambulance and two blue uniforms. Out jumped Major
+Ernest and Jack. I remember thinking how straight and how well they
+looked. I had forgotten really how army men did look, I had been so long
+away.
+
+And now we were to go to Fort Yuma and stay with the Wells' until my
+boxes, which had been sent around by water on the steamer "Montana,"
+should arrive. I had only the usual thirty pounds allowance of luggage
+with me on the stage, and it was made up entirely of my boy's clothing,
+and an evening dress I had worn on the last night of my stay in San
+Francisco.
+
+Fort Yuma was delightful at this season (December), and after four or
+five days spent most enjoyably, we crossed over one morning on the old
+rope ferryboat to Yuma City, to inquire at the big country store there
+of news from the Gulf. There was no bridge then over the Colorado.
+
+The merchant called Jack to one side and said something to him in a low
+tone. I was sure it concerned the steamer, and I said: "what it is?"
+
+Then they told me that news had just been received from below, that the
+"Montana" had been burned to the water's edge in Guaymas harbor, and
+everything on board destroyed; the passengers had been saved with much
+difficulty, as the disaster occurred in the night.
+
+I had lost all the clothes I had in the world--and my precious boxes
+were gone. I scarcely knew how to meet the calamity.
+
+Jack said: "Don't mind, Mattie; I'm so thankful you and the boy were not
+on board the ship; the things are nothing, no account at all."
+
+"But," said I, "you do not understand. I have no clothes except what I
+have on, and a party dress. Oh! what shall I do?" I cried.
+
+The merchant was very sympathetic and kind, and Major Wells said, "Let's
+go home and tell Fanny; maybe she can suggest something."
+
+I turned toward the counter, and bought some sewing materials, realizing
+that outside of my toilet articles and my party dress all my personal
+belongings were swept away. I was in a country where there were no
+dressmakers, and no shops; I was, for the time being, a pauper, as far
+as clothing was concerned.
+
+When I got back to Mrs. Wells I broke down entirely; she put her arms
+around me and said: "I've heard all about it; I know just how you must
+feel; now come in my room, and we'll see what can be done."
+
+She laid out enough clothing to last me until I could get some things
+from the East, and gave me a grey and white percale dress with a basque,
+and a border, and although it was all very much too large for me, it
+sufficed to relieve my immediate distress.
+
+Letters were dispatched to the East, in various directions, for every
+sort and description of clothing, but it was at least two months before
+any of it appeared, and I felt like an object of charity for a long
+time. Then, too, I had anticipated the fitting up of our quarters with
+all the pretty cretonnes and other things I had brought from home. And
+now the contents of those boxes were no more! The memory of the visit
+was all that was left to me. It was very hard to bear.
+
+Preparations for our journey to Camp MacDowell were at last completed.
+The route to our new post lay along the valley of the Gila River,
+following it up from its mouth, where it empties into the Colorado,
+eastwards towards the southern middle portion of Arizona.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV. UP THE VALLEY OF THE GILA
+
+The December sun was shining brightly down, as only the Arizona sun
+can shine at high noon in winter, when we crossed the Colorado on
+the primitive ferryboat drawn by ropes, clambered up into the great
+thorough-brace wagon (or ambulance) with its dusty white canvas covers
+all rolled up at the sides, said good-bye to our kind hosts of Fort
+Yuma, and started, rattling along the sandy main street of Yuma City,
+for old Camp MacDowell.
+
+Our big blue army wagon, which had been provided for my boxes and
+trunks, rumbling along behind us, empty except for the camp equipage.
+
+But it all seemed so good to me: I was happy to see the soldiers again,
+the drivers and teamsters, and even the sleek Government mules. The old
+blue uniforms made my heart glad. Every sound was familiar, even the
+rattling of the harness with its ivory rings and the harsh sound of the
+heavy brakes reinforced with old leather soles.
+
+Even the country looked attractive, smiling under the December sun. I
+wondered if I had really grown to love the desert. I had read somewhere
+that people did. But I was not paying much attention in those days
+to the analysis of my feelings. I did not stop to question the subtle
+fascination which I felt steal over me as we rolled along the smooth
+hard roads that followed the windings of the Gila River. I was back
+again in the army; I had cast my lot with a soldier, and where he was,
+was home to me.
+
+In Nantucket, no one thought much about the army. The uniform of the
+regulars was never seen there. The profession of arms was scarcely known
+or heard of. Few people manifested any interest in the life of the Far
+West. I had, while there, felt out of touch with my oldest friends. Only
+my darling old uncle, a brave old whaling captain, had said: "Mattie, I
+am much interested in all you have written us about Arizona; come right
+down below and show me on the dining-room map just where you went."
+
+Gladly I followed him down the stairs, and he took his pencil out and
+began to trace. After he had crossed the Mississippi, there did not seem
+to be anything but blank country, and I could not find Arizona, and it
+was written in large letters across the entire half of this antique map,
+"Unexplored."
+
+"True enough," he laughed. "I must buy me a new map."
+
+But he drew his pencil around Cape Horn and up the Pacific coast, and
+I described to him the voyages I had made on the old "Newbern," and his
+face was aglow with memories.
+
+"Yes," he said, "in 1826, we put into San Francisco harbor and sent
+our boats up to San Jose for water and we took goats from some of those
+islands, too. Oh! I know the coast well enough. We were on our way to the
+Ar'tic Ocean then, after right whales."
+
+But, as a rule, people there seemed to have little interest in the army
+and it had made me feel as one apart.
+
+Gila City was our first camp; not exactly a city, to be sure, at that
+time, whatever it may be now. We were greeted by the sight of a few old
+adobe houses, and the usual saloon. I had ceased, however, to dwell upon
+such trifles as names. Even "Filibuster," the name of our next camp,
+elicited no remark from me.
+
+The weather was fine beyond description. Each day, at noon, we got out
+of the ambulance, and sat down on the warm white sand, by a little clump
+of mesquite, and ate our luncheon. Coveys of quail flew up and we shot
+them, thereby insuring a good supper.
+
+The mules trotted along contentedly on the smooth white road, which
+followed the south bank of the Gila River. Myriads of lizards ran out
+and looked at us. "Hello, here you are again," they seemed to say.
+
+The Gila Valley in December was quite a different thing from the Mojave
+desert in September; and although there was not much to see, in that
+low, flat country, yet we three were joyous and happy.
+
+Good health again was mine, the travelling was ideal, there were no
+discomforts, and I experienced no terrors in this part of Arizona.
+
+Each morning, when the tent was struck, and I sat on the camp-stool by
+the little heap of ashes, which was all that remained of what had been
+so pleasant a home for an afternoon and a night, a little lonesome
+feeling crept over me, at the thought of leaving the place. So strong is
+the instinct and love of home in some people, that the little tendrils
+shoot out in a day and weave themselves around a spot which has given
+them shelter. Such as those are not born to be nomads.
+
+Camps were made at Stanwix, Oatman's Flat, and Gila Bend. There we left
+the river, which makes a mighty loop at this point, and struck across
+the plains to Maricopa Wells. The last day's march took us across the
+Gila River, over the Maricopa desert, and brought us to the Salt River.
+We forded it at sundown, rested our animals a half hour or so, and drove
+through the MacDowell canon in the dark of the evening, nine miles more
+to the post. A day's march of forty-five miles. (A relay of mules had
+been sent to meet us at the Salt River, but by some oversight, we had
+missed it.)
+
+Jack had told me of the curious cholla cactus, which is said to nod at
+the approach of human beings, and to deposit its barbed needles at their
+feet. Also I had heard stories of this deep, dark canon and things that
+had happened there.
+
+Fort MacDowell was in Maricopa County, Arizona, on the Verde River,
+seventy miles or so south of Camp Verde; the roving bands of Indians,
+escaping from Camp Apache and the San Carlos reservation, which lay
+far to the east and southeast, often found secure hiding places in the
+fastnesses of the Superstition Mountains and other ranges, which lay
+between old Camp MacDowell and these reservations.
+
+Hence, a company of cavalry and one of infantry were stationed at Camp
+MacDowell, and the officers and men of this small command were kept
+busy, scouting, and driving the renegades from out of this part of the
+country back to their reservations. It was by no means an idle post, as
+I found after I got there; the life at Camp MacDowell meant hard work,
+exposure and fatigue for this small body of men.
+
+As we wound our way through this deep, dark canon, after crossing the
+Salt River, I remembered the things I had heard, of ambush and murder.
+Our animals were too tired to go out of a walk, the night fell in black
+shadows down between those high mountain walls, the chollas, which are a
+pale sage-green color in the day-time, took on a ghastly hue. They were
+dotted here and there along the road, and on the steep mountainsides.
+They grew nearly as tall as a man, and on each branch were great
+excrescences which looked like people's heads, in the vague light which
+fell upon them.
+
+They nodded to us, and it made me shudder; they seemed to be something
+human.
+
+The soldiers were not partial to MacDowell canon; they knew too much
+about the place; and we all breathed a sigh of relief when we emerged
+from this dark uncanny road and saw the lights of the post, lying low,
+long, flat, around a square.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV. OLD CAMP MACDOWELL
+
+We were expected, evidently, for as we drove along the road in front of
+the officers' quarters they all came out to meet us, and we received a
+great welcome.
+
+Captain Corliss of C company welcomed us to the post and to his company,
+and said he hoped I should like MacDowell better than I did Ehrenberg.
+Now Ehrenberg seemed years agone, and I could laugh at the mention of
+it.
+
+Supper was awaiting us at Captain Corliss's, and Mrs. Kendall, wife
+of Lieutenant Kendall, Sixth Cavalry, had, in Jack's absence, put the
+finishing touches to our quarters. So I went at once to a comfortable
+home, and life in the army began again for me.
+
+How good everything seemed! There was Doctor Clark, whom I had met first
+at Ehrenberg, and who wanted to throw Patrocina and Jesusita into the
+Colorado. I was so glad to find him there; he was such a good doctor,
+and we never had a moment's anxiety, as long as he staid at Camp
+MacDowell. Our confidence in him was unbounded.
+
+It was easy enough to obtain a man from the company. There were then
+no hateful laws forbidding soldiers to work in officers' families; no
+dreaded inspectors, who put the flat question, "Do you employ a soldier
+for menial labor?"
+
+Captain Corliss gave me an old man by the name of Smith, and he was glad
+to come and stay with us and do what simple cooking we required. One of
+the laundresses let me have her daughter for nurserymaid, and our small
+establishment at Camp MacDowell moved on smoothly, if not with elegance.
+
+The officers' quarters were a long, low line of adobe buildings with no
+space between them; the houses were separated only by thick walls. In
+front, the windows looked out over the parade ground. In the rear, they
+opened out on a road which ran along the whole length, and on the other
+side of which lay another row of long, low buildings which were the
+kitchens, each set of quarters having its own.
+
+We occupied the quarters at the end of the row, and a large bay window
+looked out over a rather desolate plain, and across to the large and
+well-kept hospital. As all my draperies and pretty cretonnes had been
+burnt up on the ill-fated ship, I had nothing but bare white shades at
+the windows, and the rooms looked desolate enough. But a long divan was
+soon built, and some coarse yellow cotton bought at John Smith's (the
+sutler's) store, to cover it. My pretty rugs and mats were also gone,
+and there was only the old ingrain carpet from Fort Russell. The floors
+were adobe, and some men from the company came and laid down old canvas,
+then the carpet, and drove in great spikes around the edge to hold it
+down. The floors of the bedroom and dining-room were covered with canvas
+in the same manner. Our furnishings were very scanty and I felt very
+mournful about the loss of the boxes. We could not claim restitution as
+the steamship company had been courteous enough to take the boxes down
+free of charge.
+
+John Smith, the post trader (the name "sutler" fell into disuse about
+now) kept a large store but, nothing that I could use to beautify my
+quarters with--and our losses had been so heavy that we really could not
+afford to send back East for more things. My new white dresses came and
+were suitable enough for the winter climate of MacDowell. But I missed
+the thousand and one accessories of a woman's wardrobe, the accumulation
+of years, the comfortable things which money could not buy especially at
+that distance.
+
+I had never learned how to make dresses or to fit garments and although
+I knew how to sew, my accomplishments ran more in the line of outdoor
+sports.
+
+But Mrs. Kendall whose experience in frontier life had made her
+self-reliant, lent me some patterns, and I bought some of John Smith's
+calico and went to work to make gowns suited to the hot weather. This
+was in 1877, and every one will remember that the ready-made house-gowns
+were not to be had in those days in the excellence and profusion in
+which they can to-day be found, in all parts of the country.
+
+Now Mrs. Kendall was a tall, fine woman, much larger than I, but I used
+her patterns without alterations, and the result was something like a
+bag. They were freshly laundried and cool, however, and I did not place
+so much importance on the lines of them, as the young women of the
+present time do. To-day, the poorest farmer's wife in the wilds of
+Arkansas or Alaska can wear better fitting gowns than I wore then. But
+my riding habits, of which I had several kinds, to suit warm and cold
+countries, had been left in Jack's care at Ehrenberg, and as long as
+these fitted well, it did not so much matter about the gowns.
+
+Captain Chaffee, who commanded the company of the Sixth Cavalry
+stationed there, was away on leave, but Mr. Kendall, his first
+lieutenant, consented for me to exercise "Cochise," Captain Chaffee's
+Indian pony, and I had a royal time.
+
+Cavalry officers usually hate riding: that is, riding for pleasure;
+for they are in the saddle so much, for dead earnest work; but a young
+officer, a second lieutenant, not long out from the Academy, liked to
+ride, and we had many pleasant riding parties. Mr. Dravo and I rode one
+day to the Mormon settlement, seventeen miles away, on some business
+with the bishop, and a Mormon woman gave us a lunch of fried salt pork,
+potatoes, bread, and milk. How good it tasted, after our long ride! and
+how we laughed about it all, and jollied, after the fashion of young
+people, all the way back to the post! Mr Dravo had also lost all his
+things on the "Montana," and we sympathized greatly with each other.
+He, however, had sent an order home to Pennsylvania, duplicating all the
+contents of his boxes. I told him I could not duplicate mine, if I sent
+a thousand orders East.
+
+When, after some months, his boxes came, he brought me in a package,
+done up in tissue paper and tied with ribbon: "Mother sends you these;
+she wrote that I was not to open them; I think she felt sorry for you,
+when I wrote her you had lost all your clothing. I suppose," he added,
+mustering his West Point French to the front, and handing me the
+package, "it is what you ladies call 'lingerie.'"
+
+I hope I blushed, and I think I did, for I was not so very old, and
+I was touched by this sweet remembrance from the dear mother back in
+Pittsburgh. And so many lovely things happened all the time; everybody
+was so kind to me. Mrs. Kendall and her young sister, Kate Taylor, Mrs.
+John Smith and I, were the only women that winter at Camp MacDowell.
+Afterwards, Captain Corliss brought a bride to the post, and a new
+doctor took Doctor Clark's place.
+
+There were interminable scouts, which took both cavalry and infantry
+out of the post. We heard a great deal about "chasing Injuns" in the
+Superstition Mountains, and once a lieutenant of infantry went out to
+chase an escaping Indian Agent.
+
+Old Smith, my cook, was not very satisfactory; he drank a good deal, and
+I got very tired of the trouble he caused me. It was before the days of
+the canteen, and soldiers could get all the whiskey they wanted at the
+trader's store; and, it being generally the brand that was known in the
+army as "Forty rod," they got very drunk on it sometimes. I never had
+it in my heart to blame them much, poor fellows, for every human beings
+wants and needs some sort of recreation and jovial excitement.
+
+Captain Corliss said to Jack one day, in my presence, "I had a fine
+batch of recruits come in this morning."
+
+"That's lovely," said I; "what kind of men are they? Any good cooks
+amongst them?" (for I was getting very tired of Smith).
+
+Captain Corliss smiled a grim smile. "What do you think the United
+States Government enlists men for?" said he; "do you think I want my
+company to be made up of dish-washers?"
+
+He was really quite angry with me, and I concluded that I had been
+too abrupt, in my eagerness for another man, and that my ideas on the
+subject were becoming warped. I decided that I must be more diplomatic
+in the future, in my dealings with the Captain of C company.
+
+The next day, when we went to breakfast, whom did we find in the
+dining-room but Bowen! Our old Bowen of the long march across the
+Territory! Of Camp Apache and K company! He had his white apron on, his
+hair rolled back in his most fetching style, and was putting the coffee
+on the table.
+
+"But, Bowen," said I, "where--how on earth--did you--how did you know
+we--what does it mean?"
+
+Bowen saluted the First Lieutenant of C company, and said: "Well, sir,
+the fact is, my time was out, and I thought I would quit. I went to San
+Francisco and worked in a miners' restaurant" (here he hesitated), "but
+I didn't like it, and I tried something else, and lost all my money, and
+I got tired of the town, so I thought I'd take on again, and as I knowed
+ye's were in C company now, I thought I'd come to MacDowell, and I came
+over here this morning and told old Smith he'd better quit; this was my
+job, and here I am, and I hope ye're all well--and the little boy?"
+
+Here was loyalty indeed, and here was Bowen the Immortal, back again!
+
+And now things ran smoothly once more. Roasts of beef and haunches of
+venison, ducks and other good things we had through the winter.
+
+It was cool enough to wear white cotton dresses, but nothing heavier. It
+never rained, and the climate was superb, although it was always hot in
+the sun. We had heard that it was very hot here; in fact, people called
+MacDowell by very bad names. As the spring came on, we began to realize
+that the epithets applied to it might be quite appropriate.
+
+In front of our quarters was a ramada, [*] supported by rude poles of
+the cottonwood tree. Then came the sidewalk, and the acequia (ditch),
+then a row of young cottonwood trees, then the parade ground. Through
+the acequia ran the clear water that supplied the post, and under the
+shade of the ramadas, hung the large ollas from which we dipped the
+drinking water, for as yet, of course, ice was not even dreamed of in
+the far plains of MacDowell. The heat became intense, as the summer
+approached. To sleep inside the house was impossible, and we soon
+followed the example of the cavalry, who had their beds out on the
+parade ground.
+
+     *A sort of rude awning made of brush and supported by
+     cottonwood poles.
+
+Two iron cots, therefore, were brought from the hospital, and placed
+side by side in front of our quarters, beyond the acequia and the
+cottonwood trees, in fact, out in the open space of the parade ground.
+Upon these were laid some mattresses and sheets, and after "taps" had
+sounded, and lights were out, we retired to rest. Near the cots stood
+Harry's crib. We had not thought about the ants, however, and they
+swarmed over our beds, driving us into the house. The next morning Bowen
+placed a tin can of water under each point of contact; and as each cot
+had eight legs, and the crib had four, twenty cans were necessary. He
+had not taken the trouble to remove the labels, and the pictures of red
+tomatoes glared at us in the hot sun through the day; they did not look
+poetic, but our old enemies, the ants, were outwitted.
+
+There was another species of tiny insect, however, which seemed to drop
+from the little cotton-wood trees which grew at the edge of the acequia,
+and myriads of them descended and crawled all over us, so we had to
+have our beds moved still farther out on to the open space of the parade
+ground.
+
+And now we were fortified against all the venomous creeping things and
+we looked forward to blissful nights of rest.
+
+We did not look along the line, when we retired to our cots, but if we
+had, we should have seen shadowy figures, laden with pillows, flying
+from the houses to the cots or vice versa. It was certainly a novel
+experience.
+
+With but a sheet for a covering, there we lay, looking up at the starry
+heavens. I watched the Great Bear go around, and other constellations
+and seemed to come into close touch with Nature and the mysterious
+night. But the melancholy solemnity of my communings was much affected
+by the howling of the coyotes, which seemed sometimes to be so near
+that I jumped to the side of the crib, to see if my little boy was being
+carried off. The good sweet slumber which I craved never came to me in
+those weird Arizona nights under the stars.
+
+At about midnight, a sort of dewy coolness would come down from the sky,
+and we could then sleep a little; but the sun rose incredibly early in
+that southern country, and by the crack of dawn sheeted figures were to
+be seen darting back into the quarters, to try for another nap. The nap
+rarely came to any of us, for the heat of the houses never passed off,
+day or night, at that season. After an early breakfast, the long day
+began again.
+
+The question of what to eat came to be a serious one. We experimented
+with all sorts of tinned foods, and tried to produce some variety from
+them, but it was all rather tiresome. We almost dreaded the visits of
+the Paymaster and the Inspector at that season, as we never had anything
+in the house to give them.
+
+One hot night, at about ten o'clock, we heard the rattle of wheels, and
+an ambulance drew up at our door. Out jumped Colonel Biddle, Inspector
+General, from Fort Whipple. "What shall I give him to eat, poor hungry
+man?" I thought. I looked in the wire-covered safe, which hung outside
+the kitchen, and discovered half a beefsteak-pie. The gallant Colonel
+declared that if there was one thing above all others that he liked, it
+was cold beefsteak-pie. Lieutenant Thomas of the Fifth Cavalry echoed
+his sentiments, and with a bottle of Cocomonga, which was always kept
+cooling somewhere, they had a merry supper.
+
+These visits broke the monotony of our life at Camp MacDowell. We heard
+of the gay doings up at Fort Whipple, and of the lovely climate there.
+
+Mr. Thomas said he could not understand why we wore such bags of
+dresses. I told him spitefully that if the women of Fort Whipple would
+come down to MacDowell to spend the summer, they would soon be able
+to explain it to him. I began to feel embarrassed at the fit of my
+house-gowns. After a few days spent with us, however, the mercury
+ranging from l04 to l20 degrees in the shade, he ceased to comment upon
+our dresses or our customs.
+
+I had a glass jar of butter sent over from the Commissary, and asked
+Colonel Biddle if he thought it right that such butter as that should
+be bought by the purchasing officer in San Francisco. It had melted,
+and separated into layers of dead white, deep orange and pinkish-purple
+colors. Thus I, too, as well as General Miles, had my turn at trying to
+reform the Commissary Department of Uncle Sam's army.
+
+Hammocks were swung under the ramadas, and after luncheon everybody
+tried a siesta. Then, near sundown, an ambulance came and took us over
+to the Verde River, about a mile away, where we bathed in water almost
+as thick as that of the Great Colorado. We taught Mrs. Kendall to swim,
+but Mr. Kendall, being an inland man, did not take to the water. Now the
+Verde River was not a very good substitute for the sea, and the thick
+water filled our ears and mouths, but it gave us a little half hour in
+the day when we could experience a feeling of being cool, and we found
+it worth while to take the trouble. Thick clumps of mesquite trees
+furnished us with dressing-rooms. We were all young, and youth requires
+so little with which to make merry.
+
+After the meagre evening dinner, the Kendalls and ourselves sat together
+under the ramada until taps, listening generally to the droll anecdotes
+told by Mr. Kendall, who had an inexhaustible fund. Then another night
+under the stars, and so passed the time away.
+
+We lived, ate, slept by the bugle calls. Reveille means sunrise, when a
+Lieutenant must hasten to put himself into uniform, sword and belt, and
+go out to receive the report of the company or companies of soldiers,
+who stand drawn up in line on the parade ground.
+
+At about nine o'clock in the morning comes the guard-mount, a function
+always which everybody goes out to see. Then the various drill calls,
+and recalls, and sick-call and the beautiful stable-call for the
+cavalry, when the horses are groomed and watered, the thrilling
+fire-call and the startling assembly, or call-to-arms, when every
+soldier jumps for his rifle and every officer buckles on his sword, and
+a woman's heart stands still.
+
+Then at night, "tattoo," when the company officers go out to receive the
+report of "all present and accounted for"--and shortly after that, the
+mournful "taps," a signal for the barrack lights to be put out.
+
+The bugle call of "taps" is mournful also through association, as it is
+always blown over the grave of a soldier or an officer, after the coffin
+has been lowered into the earth. The soldier-musicians who blow the
+calls, seem to love the call of "taps," (strangely enough) and I
+remember well that there at Camp MacDowell, we all used to go out and
+listen when "taps went," as the soldier who blew it, seemed to put a
+whole world of sorrow into it, turning to the four points of the compass
+and letting its clear tones tremble through the air, away off across the
+Maricopa desert and then toward the East, our home so faraway. We never
+spoke, we just listened, and who can tell the thoughts that each one
+had in his mind? Church nor ministers nor priests had we there in
+those distant lands, but can we say that our lives were wholly without
+religion?
+
+The Sunday inspection of men and barracks, which was performed with
+much precision and formality, and often in full dress uniform, gave us
+something by which we could mark the weeks, as they slipped along. There
+was no religious service of any kind, as Uncle Sam did not seem to think
+that the souls of us people in the outposts needed looking after. It
+would have afforded much comfort to the Roman Catholics had there been a
+priest stationed there.
+
+The only sermon I ever heard in old Camp MacDowell was delivered by
+a Mormon Bishop and was of a rather preposterous nature, neither
+instructive nor edifying. But the good Catholics read their prayer-books
+at home, and the rest of us almost forgot that such organizations as
+churches existed.
+
+Another bright winter found us still gazing at the Four Peaks of the
+MacDowell Mountains, the only landmark on the horizon. I was glad, in
+those days, that I had not staid back East, for the life of an officer
+without his family, in those drear places, is indeed a blank and empty
+one.
+
+"Four years I have sat here and looked at the Four Peaks," said Captain
+Corliss, one day, "and I'm getting almighty tired of it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI. A SUDDEN ORDER
+
+In June, 1878, Jack was ordered to report to the commanding officer at
+Fort Lowell (near the ancient city of Tucson), to act as Quartermaster
+and Commissary at that post. This was a sudden and totally unexpected
+order. It was indeed hard, and it seemed to me cruel. For our regiment
+had been four years in the Territory, and we were reasonably sure of
+being ordered out before long. Tucson lay far to the south of us, and
+was even hotter than this place. But there was nothing to be done; we
+packed up, I with a heavy heart, Jack with his customary stoicism.
+
+With the grief which comes only at that time in one's life, and which
+sees no end and no limit, I parted from my friends at Camp MacDowell.
+Two years together, in the most intimate companionship, cut off from
+the outside world, and away from all early ties, had united us with
+indissoluble bonds,--and now we were to part,--forever as I thought.
+
+We all wept; I embraced them all, and Jack lifted me into the
+ambulance; Mrs. Kendall gave a last kiss to our little boy; Donahue, our
+soldier-driver, loosened up his brakes, cracked his long whip, and away
+we went, down over the flat, through the dark MacDowell canon, with the
+chollas nodding to us as we passed, across the Salt River, and on across
+an open desert to Florence, forty miles or so to the southeast of us.
+
+At Florence we sent our military transportation back and staid over a
+day at a tavern to rest. We met there a very agreeable and cultivated
+gentleman, Mr. Charles Poston, who was en route to his home, somewhere
+in the mountains nearby. We took the Tucson stage at sundown, and
+travelled all night. I heard afterwards more about Mr. Poston: he had
+attained some reputation in the literary world by writing about the
+Sun-worshippers of Asia. He had been a great traveller in his early
+life, but now had built himself some sort of a house in one of the
+desolate mountains which rose out of these vast plains of Arizona,
+hoisted his sun-flag on the top, there to pass the rest of his days.
+People out there said he was a sun-worshipper. I do not know. "But when
+I am tired of life and people," I thought, "this will not be the place I
+shall choose."
+
+Arriving at Tucson, after a hot and tiresome night in the stage, we went
+to an old hostelry. Tucson looked attractive. Ancient civilization is
+always interesting to me.
+
+Leaving me at the tavern, my husband drove out to Fort Lowell, to see
+about quarters and things in general. In a few hours he returned with
+the overwhelming news that he found a dispatch awaiting him at that
+post, ordering him to return immediately to his company at Camp
+MacDowell, as the Eighth Infantry was ordered to the Department of
+California.
+
+Ordered "out" at last! I felt like jumping up onto the table, climbing
+onto the roof, dancing and singing and shouting for joy! Tired as we
+were (and I thought I had reached the limit), we were not too tired to
+take the first stage back for Florence, which left that evening. Those
+two nights on the Tucson stage are a blank in my memory. I got through
+them somehow.
+
+In the morning, as we approached the town of Florence, the great blue
+army wagon containing our household goods, hove in sight--its white
+canvas cover stretched over hoops, its six sturdy mules coming along
+at a good trot, and Sergeant Stone cracking his long whip, to keep up a
+proper pace in the eyes of the Tucson stage-driver.
+
+Jack called him to halt, and down went the Sergeant's big brakes.
+Both teams came to a stand-still, and we told the Sergeant the news.
+Bewilderment, surprise, joy, followed each other on the old Sergeant's
+countenance. He turned his heavy team about, and promised to reach Camp
+MacDowell as soon as the animals could make it. At Florence, we left the
+stage, and went to the little tavern once more; the stage route did not
+lie in our direction, so we must hire a private conveyance to bring us
+to Camp MacDowell. Jack found a man who had a good pair of ponies and an
+open buckboard. Towards night we set forth to cross the plain which lies
+between Florence and the Salt River, due northwest by the map.
+
+When I saw the driver I did not care much for his appearance. He did
+not inspire me with confidence, but the ponies looked strong, and we had
+forty or fifty miles before us.
+
+After we got fairly into the desert, which was a trackless waste, I
+became possessed by a feeling that the man did not know the way. He
+talked a good deal about the North Star, and the fork in the road, and
+that we must be sure not to miss it.
+
+It was a still, hot, starlit night. Jack and the driver sat on the front
+seat. They had taken the back seat out, and my little boy and I sat in
+the bottom of the wagon, with the hard cushions to lean against through
+the night. I suppose we were drowsy with sleep; at all events, the talk
+about the fork of the road and the North Star faded away into dreams.
+
+I awoke with a chilly feeling, and a sudden jolt over a rock. "I do
+not recollect any rocks on this road, Jack, when we came over it in the
+ambulance," said I.
+
+"Neither do I," he replied.
+
+I looked for the North Star: I had looked for it often when in open
+boats. It was away off on our left, the road seemed to be ascending and
+rocky: I had never seen this piece of road before, that I was sure of.
+
+"We are going to the eastward," said I, "and we should be going
+northwest."
+
+"My dear, lie down and go to sleep; the man knows the road; he is taking
+a short cut, I suppose," said the Lieutenant. There was something not at
+all reassuring in his tones, however.
+
+The driver did not turn his head nor speak. I looked at the North Star,
+which was getting farther and farther on our left, and I felt the gloomy
+conviction that we were lost on the desert.
+
+Finally, at daylight, after going higher and higher, we drew up in an
+old deserted mining-camp.
+
+The driver jerked his ponies up, and, with a sullen gesture, said, "We
+must have missed the fork of the road; this is Picket Post."
+
+"Great Heavens!" I cried; "how far out of the way are we?"
+
+"About fifteen miles," he drawled, "you see we shall have to go back to
+the place where the road forks, and make a new start."
+
+I nearly collapsed with discouragement. I looked around at the ruined
+walls and crumbling pillars of stone, so weird and so grey in the
+dawning light: it might have been a worshipping place of the Druids.
+My little son shivered with the light chill which comes at daybreak in
+those tropical countries: we were hungry and tired and miserable: my
+bones ached, and I felt like crying.
+
+We gave the poor ponies time to breathe, and took a bite of cold food
+ourselves.
+
+Ah! that blighted and desolate place called Picket Post! Forsaken by God
+and man, it might have been the entrance to Hades.
+
+Would the ponies hold out? They looked jaded to be sure, but we had
+stopped long enough to breathe them, and away they trotted again, down
+the mountain this time, instead of up.
+
+It was broad day when we reached the fork of the road, which we had not
+been able to see in the night: there was no mistaking it now.
+
+We had travelled already about forty miles, thirty more lay before us;
+but there were no hills, it was all flat country, and the owner of these
+brave little ponies said we could make it.
+
+As we neared the MacDowell canon, we met Captain Corliss marching
+out with his company (truly they had lost no time in starting for
+California), and he told his First Lieutenant he would make slow
+marches, that we might overtake him before he reached Yuma.
+
+We were obliged to wait at Camp MacDowell for Sergeant Stone to arrive
+with our wagonful of household goods, and then, after a mighty weeding
+out and repacking, we set forth once more, with a good team of mules
+and a good driver, to join the command. We bade the Sixth Cavalry people
+once more good-bye, but I was so nearly dead by this time, with the
+heat, and the fatigue of all this hard travelling and packing up, that
+the keener edge of my emotions was dulled. Eight days and nights spent
+in travelling hither and thither over those hot plains in Southern
+Arizona, and all for what?
+
+Because somebody in ordering somebody to change his station, had
+forgotten that somebody's regiment was about to be ordered out of the
+country it had been in for four years. Also because my husband was a
+soldier who obeyed orders without questioning them. If he had been a
+political wire-puller, many of our misfortunes might have been averted.
+But then, while I half envied the wives of the wire-pullers, I took a
+sort of pride in the blind obedience shown by my own particular soldier
+to the orders he received.
+
+After that week's experience, I held another colloquy with myself, and
+decided that wives should not follow their husbands in the army, and
+that if I ever got back East again, I would stay: I simply could not go
+on enduring these unmitigated and unreasonable hardships.
+
+The Florence man staid over at the post a day or so to rest his ponies.
+I bade him good-bye and told him to take care of those brave little
+beasts, which had travelled seventy miles without rest, to bring us
+to our destination. He nodded pleasantly and drove away. "A queer
+customer," I observed to Jack.
+
+"Yes," answered he, "they told me in Florence that he was a 'road agent'
+and desperado, but there did not seem to be anyone else, and my orders
+were peremptory, so I took him. I knew the ponies could pull us through,
+by the looks of them; and road agents are all right with army officers,
+they know they wouldn't get anything if they held 'em up."
+
+"How much did he charge you for the trip?" I asked.
+
+"Sixteen dollars," was the reply. And so ended the episode. Except that
+I looked back to Picket Post with a sort of horror, I thought no more
+about it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII. THE EIGHTH FOOT LEAVES ARIZONA
+
+And now after the eight days of most distressing heat, and the fatigue
+of all sorts and varieties of travelling, the nights spent in a
+stage-coach or at a desert inn, or in the road agent's buckboard,
+holding always my little son close to my side, came six days more of
+journeying down the valley of the Gila.
+
+We took supper in Phoenix, at a place known as "Devine's." I was hearing
+a good deal about Phoenix; for even then, its gardens, its orchards
+and its climate were becoming famous, but the season of the year was
+unpropitious to form a favorable opinion of that thriving place, even if
+my opinions of Arizona, with its parched-up soil and insufferable heat,
+had not been formed already.
+
+We crossed the Gila somewhere below there, and stopped at our old
+camping places, but the entire valley was seething hot, and the
+remembrance of the December journey seemed but an aggravating dream.
+
+We joined Captain Corliss and the company at Antelope Station, and in
+two more days were at Yuma City. By this time, the Southern Pacific
+Railroad had been built as far as Yuma, and a bridge thrown across the
+Colorado at this point. It seemed an incongruity. And how burning hot
+the cars looked, standing there in the Arizona sun!
+
+After four years in that Territory, and remembering the days, weeks, and
+even months spent in travelling on the river, or marching through the
+deserts, I could not make the Pullman cars seem a reality.
+
+We brushed the dust of the Gila Valley from our clothes, I unearthed
+a hat from somewhere, and some wraps which had not seen the light for
+nearly two years, and prepared to board the train.
+
+I cried out in my mind, the prayer of the woman in one of Fisher's
+Ehrenberg stories, to which I used to listen with unmitigated delight,
+when I lived there. The story was this: "Mrs. Blank used to live here
+in Ehrenberg; she hated the place just as you do, but she was obliged to
+stay. Finally, after a period of two years, she and her sister, who had
+lived with her, were able to get away. I crossed over the river with
+them to Lower California, on the old rope ferry-boat which they used
+to have near Ehrenberg, and as soon as the boat touched the bank, they
+jumped ashore, and down they both went upon their knees, clasped their
+hands, raised their eyes to Heaven, and Mrs. Blank said: 'I thank Thee,
+oh Lord! Thou hast at last delivered us from the wilderness, and brought
+us back to God's country. Receive my thanks, oh Lord!'"
+
+And then Fisher used to add: "And the tears rolled down their faces, and
+I knew they felt every word they spoke; and I guess you'll feel about
+the same way when you get out of Arizona, even if you don't quite drop
+on your knees," he said.
+
+The soldiers did not look half so picturesque, climbing into the cars,
+as they did when loading onto a barge; and when the train went across
+the bridge, and we looked down upon the swirling red waters of the Great
+Colorado from the windows of a luxurious Pullman, I sighed; and, with
+the strange contradictoriness of the human mind, I felt sorry that
+the old days had come to an end. For, somehow, the hardships and
+deprivations which we have endured, lose their bitterness when they have
+become only a memory.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII. CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA
+
+A portion of our regiment was ordered to Oregon, to join General Howard,
+who was conducting the Bannock Campaign, so I remained that summer in
+San Francisco, to await my husband's return.
+
+I could not break away from my Arizona habits. I wore only white
+dresses, partly because I had no others which were in fashion, partly
+because I had become imbued with a profound indifference to dress.
+
+"They'll think you're a Mexican," said my New England aunt (who regarded
+all foreigners with contempt). "Let them think," said I; "I almost wish
+I were; for, after all, they are the only people who understand the
+philosophy of living. Look at the tired faces of the women in your
+streets," I added, "one never sees that sort of expression down below,
+and I have made up my mind not to be caught by the whirlpool of advanced
+civilization again."
+
+Added to the white dresses, I smoked cigarettes, and slept all the
+afternoons. I was in the bondage of tropical customs, and I had lapsed
+back into a state of what my aunt called semi-barbarism.
+
+"Let me enjoy this heavenly cool climate, and do not worry me," I
+begged. I shuddered when I heard people complain of the cold winds of
+the San Francisco summer. How do they dare tempt Fate, thought I, and I
+wished them all in Ehrenberg or MacDowell for one summer. "I think they
+might then know something about climate, and would have something to
+complain about!"
+
+How I revelled in the flowers, and all the luxuries of that delightful
+city!
+
+The headquarters of the Eighth was located at Benicia, and General
+Kautz, our Colonel, invited me to pay a visit to his wife. A pleasant
+boat-trip up the Sacramento River brought us to Benicia. Mrs. Kautz, a
+handsome and accomplished Austrian, presided over her lovely army home
+in a manner to captivate my fancy, and the luxury of their surroundings
+almost made me speechless.
+
+"The other side of army life," thought I.
+
+A visit to Angel Island, one of the harbor defences, strengthened this
+impression. Four years of life in the southern posts of Arizona had
+almost made me believe that army life was indeed but "glittering
+misery," as the Germans had called it.
+
+In the autumn, the troops returned from Oregon, and C company was
+ordered to Camp MacDermit, a lonely spot up in the northern part of
+Nevada (Nevada being included in the Department of California). I was
+sure by that time that bad luck was pursuing us. I did not know so much
+about the "ins and outs" of the army then as I do now.
+
+At my aunt's suggestion, I secured a Chinaman of good caste for a
+servant, and by deceiving him (also my aunt's advice) with the idea that
+we were going only as far as Sacramento, succeeded in making him willing
+to accompany us.
+
+We started east, and left the railroad at a station called "Winnemucca."
+MacDermit lay ninety miles to the north. But at Winnemucca the Chinaman
+balked. "You say: 'All'e same Saclamento': lis place heap too far: me
+no likee!" I talked to him, and, being a good sort, he saw that I meant
+well, and the soldiers bundled him on top of the army wagon, gave him a
+lot of good-natured guying, and a revolver to keep off Indians, and so
+we secured Hoo Chack.
+
+Captain Corliss had been obliged to go on ahead with his wife, who was
+in the most delicate health. The post ambulance had met them at this
+place.
+
+Jack was to march over the ninety miles, with the company. I watched
+them starting out, the men, glad of the release from the railroad train,
+their guns on their shoulders, stepping off in military style and in
+good form.
+
+The wagons followed--the big blue army wagons, and Hoo Chack, looking
+rather glum, sitting on top of a pile of baggage.
+
+I took the Silver City stage, and except for my little boy I was the
+only passenger for the most of the way. We did the ninety miles without
+resting over, except for relays of horses.
+
+I climbed up on the box and talked with the driver. I liked these
+stage-drivers. They were "nervy," fearless men, and kind, too, and had a
+great dash and go about them. They often had a quiet and gentle bearing,
+but by that time I knew pretty well what sort of stuff they were made
+of, and I liked to have them talk to me, and I liked to look out upon
+the world through their eyes, and judge of things from their standpoint.
+
+It was an easy journey, and we passed a comfortable night in the stage.
+
+Camp MacDermit was a colorless, forbidding sort of a place. Only one
+company was stationed there, and my husband was nearly always scouting
+in the mountains north of us. The weather was severe, and the winter
+there was joyless and lonesome. The extreme cold and the loneliness
+affected my spirits, and I suffered from depression.
+
+I had no woman to talk to, for Mrs. Corliss, who was the only other
+officer's wife at the post, was confined to the house by the most
+delicate health, and her mind was wholly absorbed by the care of her
+young infant. There were no nurses to be had in that desolate corner of
+the earth.
+
+One day, a dreadful looking man appeared at the door, a person such as
+one never sees except on the outskirts of civilization, and I wondered
+what business brought him. He wore a long, black, greasy frock coat,
+a tall hat, and had the face of a sneak. He wanted the Chinaman's
+poll-tax, he said.
+
+"But," I suggested, "I never heard of collecting taxes in a Government
+post; soldiers and officers do not pay taxes."
+
+"That may be," he replied, "but your Chinaman is not a soldier, and I am
+going to have his tax before I leave this house."
+
+"So, ho," I thought; "a threat!" and the soldier's blood rose in me.
+
+I was alone; Jack was miles away up North. Hoo Chack appeared in the
+hall; he had evidently heard the man's last remark. "Now," I said, "this
+Chinaman is in my employ, and he shall not pay any tax, until I find out
+if he be exempt or not."
+
+The evil-looking man approached the Chinaman. Hoo Chack grew a shade
+paler. I fancied he had a knife under his white shirt; in fact, he felt
+around for it. I said, "Hoo Chack, go away, I will talk to this man."
+
+I opened the front door. "Come with me" (to the tax-collector); "we will
+ask the commanding officer about this matter." My heart was really in my
+mouth, but I returned the man's steady and dogged gaze, and he followed
+me to Captain Corliss' quarters. I explained the matter to the Captain,
+and left the man to his mercy. "Why didn't you call the Sergeant of the
+Guard, and have the man slapped into the guard-house?" said Jack, when
+I told him about it afterwards. "The man had no business around here; he
+was trying to browbeat you into giving him a dollar, I suppose."
+
+The country above us was full of desperadoes from Boise and Silver City,
+and I was afraid to be left alone so much at night; so I begged Captain
+Corliss to let me have a soldier to sleep in my quarters. He sent me old
+Needham. So I installed old Needham in my guest chamber with his loaded
+rifle. Now old Needham was but a wisp of a man; long years of service
+had broken down his health; he was all wizened up and feeble; but he
+was a soldier; I felt safe, and could sleep once more. Just the sight
+of Needham and his old blue uniform coming at night, after taps, was a
+comfort to me.
+
+Anxiety filled my soul, for Jack was scouting in the Stein Mountains
+all winter in the snow, after Indians who were avowedly hostile, and had
+threatened to kill on sight. He often went out with a small pack-train,
+and some Indian scouts, five or six soldiers, and I thought it quite
+wrong for him to be sent into the mountains with so small a number.
+
+Camp MacDermit was, as I have already mentioned, a "one-company post."
+We all know what that may mean, on the frontier. Our Second Lieutenant
+was absent, and all the hard work of winter scouting fell upon Jack,
+keeping him away for weeks at a time.
+
+The Piute Indians were supposed to be peaceful, and their old chief,
+Winnemucca, once the warlike and dreaded foe of the white man, was now
+quiet enough, and too old to fight. He lived, with his family, at an
+Indian village near the post.
+
+He came to see me occasionally. His dress was a curious mixture of
+civilization and savagery. He wore the chapeau and dress-coat of a
+General of the American Army, with a large epaulette on one shoulder. He
+was very proud of the coat, because General Crook had given it to him.
+His shirt, leggings and moccasins were of buckskin, and the long braids
+of his coal-black hair, tied with strips of red flannel, gave the last
+touch to this incongruous costume.
+
+But I must say that his demeanor was gentle and dignified, and, after
+recovering from the superficial impressions which his startling costume
+had at first made upon my mind, I could well believe that he had
+once been the war-leader, as he was now the political head of his
+once-powerful tribe.
+
+Winnemucca did not disdain to accept some little sugar-cakes from me,
+and would sit down on our veranda and munch them.
+
+He always showed me the pasteboard medal which hung around his neck,
+and which bore General Howard's signature; and he always said: "General
+Howard tell me, me good Injun, me go up--up--up"--pointing dramatically
+towards Heaven. On one occasion, feeling desperate for amusement, I said
+to him: "General Howard very good man, but he make a mistake; where you
+go, is not up--up--up, but," pointing solemnly to the earth below us,
+"down--down--down." He looked incredulous, but I assured him it was a
+nice place down there.
+
+Some of the scattered bands of the tribe, however, were restless
+and unsubdued, and gave us much trouble, and it was these bands that
+necessitated the scouts.
+
+My little son, Harry, four years old, was my constant and only
+companion, during that long, cold, and anxious winter.
+
+My mother sent me an appealing invitation to come home for a year. I
+accepted gladly, and one afternoon in May, Jack put us aboard the Silver
+City stage, which passed daily through the post.
+
+Our excellent Chinese servant promised to stay with the "Captain" and
+take care of him, and as I said "Good-bye, Hoo Chack," I noticed an
+expression of real regret on his usually stolid features.
+
+Occupied with my thoughts, on entering the stage, I did not notice the
+passengers or the man sitting next me on the back seat. Darkness soon
+closed around us, and I suppose we fell asleep. Between naps, I heard a
+queer clanking sound, but supposed it was the chains of the harness or
+the stage-coach gear. The next morning, as we got out at a relay station
+for breakfast, I saw the handcuffs on the man next to whom I had sat all
+the night long. The sheriff was on the box outside. He very obligingly
+changed seats with me for the rest of the way, and evening found us on
+the overland train speeding on our journey East. Camp MacDermit with its
+dreary associations and surroundings faded gradually from my mind, like
+a dream.
+
+
+*****
+
+
+The year of 1879 brought us several changes. My little daughter was
+born in mid-summer at our old home in Nantucket. As I lay watching the
+curtains move gently to and fro in the soft sea-breezes, and saw my
+mother and sister moving about the room, and a good old nurse rocking my
+baby in her arms, I could but think of those other days at Camp Apache,
+when I lay through the long hours, with my new-born baby by my side,
+watching, listening for some one to come in. There was no one, no woman
+to come, except the poor hard-working laundress of the cavalry, who did
+come once a day to care for the baby.
+
+Ah! what a contrast! and I had to shut my eyes for fear I should cry, at
+the mere thought of those other days.
+
+
+*****
+
+
+Jack took a year's leave of absence and joined me in the autumn at
+Nantucket, and the winter was spent in New York, enjoying the theatres
+and various amusements we had so long been deprived of. Here we met
+again Captain Porter and Carrie Wilkins, who was now Mrs. Porter. They
+were stationed at David's Island, one of the harbor posts, and we went
+over to see them. "Yes," he said, "as Jacob waited seven years for
+Rachel, so I waited for Carrie."
+
+The following summer brought us the good news that Captain Corliss'
+company was ordered to Angel Island, in the bay of San Francisco. "Thank
+goodness," said Jack, "C company has got some good luck, at last!"
+
+Joyfully we started back on the overland trip to California, which took
+about nine days at that time. Now, travelling with a year-old baby and a
+five-year-old boy was quite troublesome, and we were very glad when
+the train had crossed the bleak Sierras and swept down into the lovely
+valley of the Sacramento.
+
+Arriving in San Francisco, we went to the old Occidental Hotel, and as
+we were going in to dinner, a card was handed to us. "Hoo Chack" was the
+name on the card. "That Chinaman!" I cried to Jack. "How do you suppose
+he knew we were here?"
+
+We soon made arrangements for him to accompany us to Angel Island, and
+in a few days this "heathen Chinee" had unpacked all our boxes and made
+our quarters very comfortable. He was rather a high-caste man, and as
+true and loyal as a Christian. He never broke his word, and he staid
+with us as long as we remained in California.
+
+And now we began to live, to truly live; for we felt that the years
+spent at those desert posts under the scorching suns of Arizona had
+cheated us out of all but a bare existence upon earth.
+
+The flowers ran riot in our garden, fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh
+fish, and all the luxuries of that marvellous climate, were brought to
+our door.
+
+A comfortable Government steamboat plied between San Francisco and its
+harbor posts, and the distance was not great--only three quarters of an
+hour. So we had a taste of the social life of that fascinating city, and
+could enjoy the theatres also.
+
+On the Island, we had music and dancing, as it was the headquarters
+of the regiment. Mrs. Kautz, so brilliant and gay, held grand court
+here--receptions, military functions, lawn tennis, bright uniforms, were
+the order of the day. And that incomparable climate! How I revelled in
+it! When the fog rolled in from the Golden Gate, and enveloped the great
+city of Saint Francis in its cold vapors, the Island of the Angels lay
+warm and bright in the sunshine.
+
+The old Spaniards named it well, and the old Nantucket whalers who
+sailed around Cape Horn on their way to the Ar'tic, away back in the
+eighteen twenties, used to put in near there for water, and were
+well familiar with its bright shores, before it was touched by man's
+handiwork.
+
+Was there ever such an emerald green as adorned those hills which sloped
+down to the bay? Could anything equal the fields of golden escholzchia
+which lay there in the sunshine? Or the blue masses of "baby-eye," which
+opened in the mornings and held up their pretty cups to catch the dew?
+
+Was this a real Paradise?
+
+It surely seemed so to us; and, as if Nature had not done enough,
+the Fates stepped in and sent all the agreeable young officers of the
+regiment there, to help us enjoy the heavenly spot.
+
+There was Terrett, the handsome and aristocratic young Baltimorean, one
+of the finest men I ever saw in uniform; and Richardson, the stalwart
+Texan, and many others, with whom we danced and played tennis, and
+altogether there was so much to do and to enjoy that Time rushed by and
+we knew only that we were happy, and enchanted with Life.
+
+Did any uniform ever equal that of the infantry in those days? The
+dark blue, heavily braided "blouse," the white stripe on the light blue
+trousers, the jaunty cap? And then, the straight backs and the slim
+lines of those youthful figures! It seems to me any woman who was not an
+Egyptian mummy would feel her heart thrill and her blood tingle at the
+sight of them.
+
+Indians and deserts and Ehrenberg did not exist for me any more. My
+girlhood seemed to have returned, and I enjoyed everything with the
+keenest zest.
+
+My old friend Charley Bailey, who had married for his second wife a most
+accomplished young San Francisco girl, lived next door to us.
+
+General and Mrs. Kautz entertained so hospitably, and were so beloved by
+all. Together Mrs. Kautz and I read the German classics, and went to the
+German theatre; and by and by a very celebrated player, Friedrich Haase,
+from the Royal Theatre of Berlin, came to San Francisco. We never missed
+a performance, and when his tour was over, Mrs. Kautz gave a lawn party
+at Angel Island for him and a few of the members of his company. It
+was charming. I well remember how the sun shone that day, and, as we
+strolled up from the boat with them, Frau Haase stopped, looked at the
+blue sky, the lovely clouds, the green slopes of the Island and said:
+"Mein Gott! Frau Summerhayes, was ist das fur ein Paradies! Warum haben
+Sie uns nicht gesagt, Sie wohnten im Paradies!"
+
+So, with music and German speech, and strolls to the North and to the
+South Batteries, that wonderful and never to-be-forgotten day with the
+great Friedrich Haase came to an end.
+
+The months flew by, and the second winter found us still there; we heard
+rumors of Indian troubles in Arizona, and at last the orders came. The
+officers packed away their evening clothes in camphor and had their
+campaign clothes put out to air, and got their mess-chests in order,
+and the post was alive with preparations for the field. All the families
+were to stay behind. The most famous Indian renegade was to be hunted
+down, and serious fighting was looked for.
+
+At last all was ready, and the day was fixed for the departure of the
+troops.
+
+The winter rains had set in, and the skies were grey, as the command
+marched down to the boat.
+
+The officers and soldiers were in their campaign clothes; the latter had
+their blanket-rolls and haversacks slung over their shoulders, and their
+tin cups, which hung from the haversacks, rattled and jingled as they
+marched down in even columns of four, over the wet and grassy slopes of
+the parade ground, where so short a time before all had been glitter and
+sunshine.
+
+I realized then perhaps for the first time what the uniform really stood
+for; that every man who wore it, was going out to fight--that they
+held their lives as nothing. The glitter was all gone; nothing but sad
+reality remained.
+
+The officers' wives and the soldiers' wives followed the troops to the
+dock. The soldiers marched single file over the gang-plank of the
+boat, the officers said good-bye, the shrill whistle of the "General
+McPherson" sounded--and they were off. We leaned back against the
+coal-sheds, and soldiers' and officers' wives alike all wept together.
+
+And now a season of gloom came upon us. The skies were dull and murky
+and the rain poured down.
+
+Our old friend Bailey, who was left behind on account of illness, grew
+worse and finally his case was pronounced hopeless. His death added to
+the deep gloom and sadness which enveloped us all.
+
+A few of the soldiers who had staid on the Island to take care of the
+post, carried poor Bailey to the boat, his casket wrapped in the flag
+and followed by a little procession of women. I thought I had never seen
+anything so sad.
+
+The campaign lengthened out into months, but the California winters are
+never very long, and before the troops came back the hills looked their
+brightest green again. The campaign had ended with no very serious
+losses to our troops and all was joyous again, until another order took
+us from the sea-coast to the interior once more.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX. CHANGING STATION
+
+It was the custom to change the stations of the different companies of a
+regiment about every two years. So the autumn of '82 found us on the
+way to Fort Halleck, a post in Nevada, but differing vastly from the
+desolate MacDermit station. Fort Halleck was only thirteen miles south
+of the Overland Railroad, and lay near a spur of the Humboldt range.
+There were miles of sage-brush between the railroad and the post, but
+the mountains which rose abruptly five thousand feet on the far side,
+made a magnificent background for the officers' quarters, which lay
+nestled at the bottom of the foot-hills.
+
+"Oh! what a lovely post!" I cried, as we drove in.
+
+Major Sanford of the First Cavalry, with Captain Carr and Lieutenant
+Oscar Brown, received us. "Dear me," I thought, "if the First Cavalry is
+made up of such gallant men as these, the old Eighth Infantry will have
+to look out for its laurels."
+
+Mrs. Sanford and Mrs. Carr gave us a great welcome and vied with each
+other in providing for our comfort, and we were soon established.
+
+It was so good to see the gay yellow of the cavalry again! Now I rode,
+to my heart's content, and it was good to be alive; to see the cavalry
+drill, and to ride through the canons, gorgeous in their flaming autumn
+tints; then again to gallop through the sage-brush, jumping where we
+could not turn, starting up rabbits by the score.
+
+That little old post, now long since abandoned, marked a pleasant epoch
+in our life. From the ranches scattered around we could procure butter
+and squabs and young vegetables, and the soldiers cultivated great
+garden patches, and our small dinners and breakfasts live in delightful
+memory.
+
+At the end of two years spent so pleasantly with the people of the First
+Cavalry, our company was again ordered to Angel Island. But a second
+very active campaign in Arizona and Mexico, against Geronimo, took our
+soldiers away from us, and we passed through a period of considerable
+anxiety. June of '86 saw the entire regiment ordered to take station in
+Arizona once more.
+
+We travelled to Tucson in a Pullman car. It was hot and uninteresting.
+I had been at Tucson nine years before, for a few hours, but the place
+seemed unfamiliar. I looked for the old tavern; I saw only the railroad
+restaurant. We went in to take breakfast, before driving out to the
+post of Fort Lowell, seven miles away. Everything seemed changed. Iced
+cantaloupe was served by a spick-span alert waiter; then, quail on
+toast. "Ice in Arizona?" It was like a dream, and I remarked to Jack,
+"This isn't the same Arizona we knew in '74," and then, "I don't believe
+I like it as well, either; all this luxury doesn't seem to belong to the
+place."
+
+After a drive behind some smart mules, over a flat stretch of seven
+miles, we arrived at Fort Lowell, a rather attractive post, with a long
+line of officers' quarters, before which ran a level road shaded by
+beautiful great trees. We were assigned a half of one of these sets of
+quarters, and as our half had no conveniences for house-keeping, it
+was arranged that we should join a mess with General and Mrs. Kautz and
+their family. We soon got settled down to our life there, and we had
+various recreations; among them, driving over to Tucson and riding on
+horseback are those which I remember best. We made a few acquaintances
+in Tucson, and they sometimes drove out in the evenings, or more
+frequently rode out on horseback. Then we would gather together on the
+Kautz piazza and everybody sang to the accompaniment of Mrs. Kautz's
+guitar. It was very hot, of course; we had all expected that, but the
+luxuries obtainable through the coming of the railroad, such as ice, and
+various summer drinks, and lemons, and butter, helped out to make the
+summer there more comfortable.
+
+We slept on the piazzas, which ran around the houses on a level with the
+ground. At that time the fad for sleeping out of doors, at least amongst
+civilized people, did not exist, and our arrangements were entirely
+primitive.
+
+Our quarters were surrounded by a small yard and a fence; the latter was
+dilapidated, and the gate swung on one hinge. We were seven miles from
+anywhere, and surrounded by a desolate country. I did not experience the
+feeling of terror that I had had at Camp Apache, for instance, nor the
+grewsome fear of the Ehrenberg grave-yard, nor the appalling fright I
+had known in crossing the Mogollon range or in driving through Sanford's
+Pass. But still there was a haunting feeling of insecurity which hung
+around me especially at night. I was awfully afraid of snakes, and no
+sooner had we lain ourselves down on our cots to sleep, than I would
+hear a rustling among the dry leaves that had blown in under our beds.
+Then all would be still again; then a crackling and a rustling--in a
+flash I would be sitting up in bed. "Jack, do you hear that?" Of course
+I did not dare to move or jump out of bed, so I would sit, rigid,
+scared. "Jack! what is it?" "Nonsense, Mattie, go to sleep; it's
+the toads jumping about in the leaves." But my sleep was fitful and
+disturbed, and I never knew what a good night's rest was.
+
+One night I was awakened by a tremendous snort right over my face. I
+opened my eyes and looked into the wild eyes of a big black bull. I
+think I must have screamed, for the bull ran clattering off the piazza
+and out through the gate. By this time Jack was up, and Harry and
+Katherine, who slept on the front piazza, came running out, and I said:
+"Well, this is the limit of all things, and if that gate isn't mended
+to-morrow, I will know the reason why."
+
+Now I heard a vague rumor that there was a creature of this sort in or
+near the post, and that he had a habit of wandering around at night,
+but as I had never seen him, it had made no great impression on my mind.
+Jack had a great laugh at me, but I did not think then, nor do I now,
+that it was anything to be laughed at.
+
+We had heard much of the old Mission of San Xavier del Bac, away the
+other side of Tucson. Mrs. Kautz decided to go over there and go into
+camp and paint a picture of San Xavier. It was about sixteen miles from
+Fort Lowell.
+
+So all the camp paraphernalia was gotten ready and several of the
+officers joined the party, and we all went over to San Xavier and camped
+for a few days under the shadow of those beautiful old walls. This
+Mission is almost unknown to the American traveler.
+
+Exquisite in color, form and architecture, it stands there a silent
+reminder of the Past.
+
+The curious carvings and paintings inside the church, and the precious
+old vestments which were shown us by an ancient custodian, filled
+my mind with wonder. The building is partly in ruins, and the little
+squirrels were running about the galleries, but the great dome is
+intact, and many of the wonderful figures which ornament it. Of course
+we know the Spanish built it about the middle or last of the sixteenth
+century, and that they tried to christianize the tribes of Indians
+who lived around in the vicinity. But there is no sign of priest or
+communicant now, nothing but a desolate plain around it for miles. No
+one can possibly understand how the building of this large and beautiful
+mission was accomplished, and I believe history furnishes very little
+information. In its archives was found quite recently the charter given
+by Ferdinand and Isabella, to establish the "pueblo" of Tucson about the
+beginning of the 16th century.
+
+After a few delightful days, we broke camp and returned to Fort Lowell.
+
+And now the summer was drawing to a close, and we were anticipating
+the delights of the winter climate at Tucson, when, without a note of
+warning, came the orders for Fort Niobrara. We looked, appalled, in each
+other's faces, the evening the telegram came, for we did not even know
+where Fort Niobrara was.
+
+We all rushed into Major Wilhelm's quarters, for he always knew
+everything. We (Mrs. Kautz and several of the other ladies of the post,
+and myself) were in a state of tremendous excitement. We pounded on
+Major Wilhelm's door and we heard a faint voice from his bedroom (for it
+was after ten o'clock); then we waited a few moments and he said, "Come
+in."
+
+We opened the door, but there being no light in his quarters we could
+not see him. A voice said: "What in the name of--" but we did not
+wait for him to finish; we all shouted: "Where is Fort Niobrara?" "The
+Devil!" he said. "Are we ordered there?" "Yes, yes," we cried; "where is
+it?" "Why, girls," he said, relapsing into his customary moderate tones,
+"It's a hell of a freezing cold place, away up north in Nebraska."
+
+We turned our backs and went over to our quarters to have a
+consultation, and we all retired with sad hearts.
+
+Now, just think of it! To come to Fort Lowell in July, only to move in
+November! What could it mean? It was hard to leave the sunny South, to
+spend the winter in those congealed regions in the North. We were but
+just settled, and now came another break-up!
+
+Our establishment now, with two children, several servants, two saddle
+horses, and additional household furnishings, was not so simple as
+in the beginning of our army life, when three chests and a box or two
+contained our worldly goods. Each move we made was more difficult than
+the last; our allowance of baggage did not begin to cover what we had to
+take along, and this added greatly to the expense of moving.
+
+The enormous waste attending a move, and the heavy outlay incurred
+in travelling and getting settled anew, kept us always poor; these
+considerations increased our chagrin over this unexpected change of
+station. There was nothing to be done, however. Orders are relentless,
+even if they seem senseless, which this one did, to the women, at least,
+of the Eighth Infantry.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX. FORT NIOBRARA
+
+The journey itself, however, was not to be dreaded, although it was so
+undesired. It was entirely by rail across New Mexico and Kansas, to
+St. Joseph, then up the Missouri River and then across the state to
+the westward. Finally, after four or five days, we reached the small
+frontier town of Valentine, in the very northwest corner of the bleak
+and desolate state of Nebraska. The post of Niobrara was four miles
+away, on the Niobrara (swift water) River.
+
+Some officers of the Ninth Cavalry met us at the station with the post
+ambulances. There were six companies of our regiment, with headquarters
+and band.
+
+It was November, and the drive across the rolling prairie-land gave us
+a fair glimpse of the country around. We crossed the old bridge over the
+Niobrara River, and entered the post. The snow lay already on the brown
+and barren hills, and the place struck a chill to my heart.
+
+The Ninth Cavalry took care of all the officers' families until we
+could get established. Lieutenant Bingham, a handsome and
+distinguished-looking young bachelor, took us with our two children
+to his quarters, and made us delightfully at home. His quarters were
+luxuriously furnished, and he was altogether adorable. This, to be sure,
+helped to soften my first harsh impressions of the place.
+
+Quarters were not very plentiful, and we were compelled to take a house
+occupied by a young officer of the Ninth. What base ingratitude it
+seemed, after the kindness we had accepted from his regiment! But
+there was no help for it. We secured a colored cook, who proved a very
+treasure, and on inquiring how she came to be in those wilds, I learned
+that she had accompanied a young heiress who eloped with a cavalry
+lieutenant, from her home in New York some years before.
+
+What a contrast was here, and what a cruel contrast! With blood thinned
+down by the enervating summer at Tucson, here we were, thrust into the
+polar regions! Ice and snow and blizzards, blizzards and snow and ice!
+The mercury disappeared at the bottom of the thermometer, and we had
+nothing to mark any degrees lower than 40 below zero. Human calculations
+had evidently stopped there. Enormous box stoves were in every room and
+in the halls; the old-fashioned sort that we used to see in school-rooms
+and meeting-houses in New England. Into these, the soldiers stuffed
+great logs of mountain mahogany, and the fires were kept roaring day and
+night.
+
+A board walk ran in front of the officers' quarters, and, desperate for
+fresh air and exercise, some of the ladies would bundle up and go to
+walk. But frozen chins, ears and elbows soon made this undesirable, and
+we gave up trying the fresh air, unless the mercury rose to 18 below,
+when a few of us would take our daily promenade.
+
+We could not complain of our fare, however, for our larder hung full of
+all sorts of delicate and delicious things, brought in by the grangers,
+and which we were glad to buy. Prairie-chickens, young pigs, venison,
+and ducks, all hanging, to be used when desired.
+
+To frappe a bottle of wine, we stood it on the porch; in a few minutes
+it would pour crystals. House-keeping was easy, but keeping warm was
+difficult.
+
+It was about this time that the law was passed abolishing the
+post-trader's store, and forbidding the selling of whiskey to soldiers
+on a Government reservation. The pleasant canteen, or Post Exchange, the
+soldiers' club-room, was established, where the men could go to relieve
+the monotony of their lives.
+
+With the abolition of whiskey, the tone of the post improved greatly;
+the men were contented with a glass of beer or light wine, the canteen
+was well managed, so the profits went back into the company messes in
+the shape of luxuries heretofore unknown; billiards and reading-rooms
+were established; and from that time on, the canteen came to be
+regarded in the army as a most excellent institution. The men gained in
+self-respect; the canteen provided them with a place where they could
+go and take a bite of lunch, read, chat, smoke, or play games with their
+own chosen friends, and escape the lonesomeness of the barracks.
+
+But, alas! this condition of things was not destined to endure, for the
+women of the various Temperance societies, in their mistaken zeal
+and woeful ignorance of the soldiers' life, succeeded in influencing
+legislation to such an extent that the canteen, in its turn, was
+abolished; with what dire results, we of the army all know.
+
+Those estimable women of the W. C. T. U. thought to do good to the army,
+no doubt, but through their pitiful ignorance of the soldiers' needs
+they have done him an incalculable harm.
+
+Let them stay by their lectures and their clubs, I say, and their other
+amusements; let them exercise their good influences nearer home, with a
+class of people whose conditions are understood by them, where they can,
+no doubt, do worlds of good.
+
+They cannot know the drear monotony of the barracks life on the frontier
+in times of peace. I have lived close by it, and I know it well. A
+ceaseless round of drill and work and lessons, and work and lessons and
+drill--no recreation, no excitement, no change.
+
+Far away from family and all home companionship, a man longs for some
+pleasant place to go, after the day's work is done. Perhaps these women
+think (if, in their blind enthusiasm, they think at all) that a young
+soldier or an old soldier needs no recreation. At all events, they have
+taken from him the only one he had, the good old canteen, and given him
+nothing in return.
+
+Now Fort Niobrara was a large post. There were ten companies, cavalry
+and infantry, General August V. Kautz, the Colonel of the Eighth
+Infantry, in command.
+
+And here, amidst the sand-hills of Nebraska, we first began to really
+know our Colonel. A man of strong convictions and abiding honesty, a
+soldier who knew his profession thoroughly, having not only achieved
+distinction in the Civil War, but having served when little more than a
+boy, in the Mexican War of 1846. Genial in his manners, brave and kind,
+he was beloved by all.
+
+The three Kautz children, Frankie, Austin, and Navarra, were the
+inseparable companions of our own children. There was a small school
+for the children of the post, and a soldier by the name of Delany was
+schoolmaster. He tried hard to make our children learn, but they did not
+wish to study, and spent all their spare time in planning tricks to be
+played upon poor Delany. It was a difficult situation for the
+soldier. Finally, the two oldest Kautz children were sent East to
+boarding-school, and we also began to realize that something must be
+done.
+
+Our surroundings during the early winter, it is true, had been dreary
+enough, but as the weather softened a bit and the spring approached, the
+post began to wake up.
+
+In the meantime, Cupid had not been idle. It was observed that Mr.
+Bingham, our gracious host of the Ninth Cavalry, had fallen in love with
+Antoinette, the pretty and attractive daughter of Captain Lynch of our
+own regiment, and the post began to be on the qui vive to see how the
+affair would end, for nobody expects to see the course of true love run
+smooth. In their case, however, the Fates were kind and in due time the
+happy engagement was announced.
+
+We had an excellent amusement hall, with a fine floor for dancing. The
+chapel was at one end, and a fairly good stage was at the other.
+
+Being nearer civilization now, in the state of Nebraska, Uncle Sam
+provided us with a chaplain, and a weekly service was held by the
+Anglican clergyman--a tall, well-formed man, a scholar and, as we say, a
+gentleman. He wore the uniform of the army chaplain, and as far as looks
+went could hold his own with any of the younger officers. And it was a
+great comfort to the church people to have this weekly service.
+
+During the rest of the time, the chapel was concealed by heavy curtains,
+and the seats turned around facing the stage.
+
+We had a good string orchestra of twenty or more pieces, and as there
+were a number of active young bachelors at the post, a series of weekly
+dances was inaugurated. Never did I enjoy dancing more than at this
+time.
+
+Then Mrs. Kautz, who was a thorough music lover and had a cultivated
+taste as well as a trained and exquisite voice, gave several musicales,
+for which much preparation was made, and which were most delightful.
+These were given at the quarters of General Kautz, a long, low, rambling
+one-story house, arranged with that artistic taste for which Mrs. Kautz
+was distinguished.
+
+Then came theatricals, all managed by Mrs. Kautz, whose talents were
+versatile.
+
+We charged admission, for we needed some more scenery, and the
+neighboring frontier town of Valentine came riding and driving over
+the prairie and across the old bridge of the Niobrara River, to see our
+plays. We had a well-lighted stage. Our methods were primitive, as there
+was no gas or electricity there in those days, but the results were
+good, and the histrionic ability shown by some of our young men and
+women seemed marvellous to us.
+
+I remember especially Bob Emmet's acting, which moved me to tears, in a
+most pathetic love scene. I thought, "What has the stage lost, in this
+gifted man!"
+
+But he is of a family whose talents are well known, and his personality,
+no doubt, added much to his natural ability as an actor.
+
+Neither the army nor the stage can now claim this brilliant cavalry
+officer, as he was induced, by urgent family reasons, shortly after the
+period of which I am writing, to resign his commission and retire to
+private life, at the very height of his ambitious career.
+
+And now the summer came on apace. A tennis-court was made, and added
+greatly to our amusement. We were in the saddle every day, and the
+country around proved very attractive at this season, both for riding
+and driving.
+
+But all this gayety did not content me, for the serious question of
+education for our children now presented itself; the question which,
+sooner or later, presents itself to the minds of all the parents of army
+children. It is settled differently by different people. It had taken a
+year for us to decide.
+
+I made up my mind that the first thing to be done was to take the
+children East and then decide on schools afterwards. So our plans were
+completed and the day of departure fixed upon. Jack was to remain at the
+Post.
+
+About an hour before I was to leave I saw the members of the string
+orchestra filing across the parade ground, coming directly towards our
+quarters. My heart began to beat faster, as I realized that Mrs. Kautz
+had planned a serenade for me. I felt it was a great break in my army
+life, but I did not know I was leaving the old regiment forever, the
+regiment with which I had been associated for so many years. And as I
+listened to the beautiful strains of the music I loved so well, my
+eyes were wet with tears, and after all the goodbye's were said, to the
+officers and their wives, my friends who had shared all our joys and our
+sorrows in so many places and under so many conditions, I ran out to
+the stable and pressed my cheek against the soft warm noses of our two
+saddle horses. I felt that life was over for me, and nothing but work
+and care remained. I say I felt all this. It must have been premonition,
+for I had no idea that I was leaving the line of the army forever.
+
+The ambulance was at the door, to take us to Valentine, where I bade
+Jack good bye, and took the train for the East. His last promise was to
+visit us once a year, or whenever he could get a leave of absence.
+
+My husband had now worn the single bar on his shoulder-strap for eleven
+years or more; before that, the straps of the second lieutenant had
+adorned his broad shoulders for a period quite as long. Twenty-two
+years a lieutenant in the regular army, after fighting, in a volunteer
+regiment of his own state, through the four years of the Civil War! The
+"gallant and meritorious service" for which he had received brevets,
+seemed, indeed, to have been forgotten. He had grown grey in Indian
+campaigns, and it looked as if the frontier might always be the home of
+the senior lieutenant of the old Eighth. Promotion in that regiment had
+been at a standstill for years.
+
+Being in Washington for a short time towards mid-winter enjoying the
+social side of military life at the Capital, an opportunity came to me
+to meet President Cleveland, and although his administration was nearing
+its close, and the stress of official cares was very great, he seemed to
+have leisure and interest to ask me about my life on the frontier; and
+as the conversation became quite personal, the impulse seized me, to
+tell him just how I felt about the education of our children, and then
+to tell him what I thought and what others thought about the unjust
+way in which the promotions and retirements in our regiment had been
+managed.
+
+He listened with the greatest interest and seemed pleased with my
+frankness. He asked me what the soldiers and officers out there thought
+of "So and So." "They hate him," I said.
+
+Whereupon he laughed outright and I knew I had committed an
+indiscretion, but life on the frontier does not teach one diplomacy
+of speech, and by that time I was nerved up to say just what I felt,
+regardless of results.
+
+"Well," he said, smiling, "I am afraid I cannot interfere much with
+those military matters;" then, pointing with his left hand and thumb
+towards the War Department, "they fix them all up over there in the
+Adjutant General's office," he added.
+
+Then he asked me many more questions; if I had always stayed out there
+with my husband, and why I did not live in the East, as so many
+army women did; and all the time I could hear the dull thud of the
+carpenters' hammers, for they were building even then the board seats
+for the public who would witness the inaugural ceremonies of his
+successor, and with each stroke of the hammer, his face seemed to grow
+more sad.
+
+I felt the greatness of the man; his desire to be just and good: his
+marvellous personal power, his ability to understand and to sympathize,
+and when I parted from him he said again laughingly, "Well, I shall not
+forget your husband's regiment, and if anything turns up for those fine
+men you have told me about, they will hear from me." And I knew they
+were the words of a man, who meant what he said.
+
+In the course of our conversation he had asked, "Who are these men? Do
+they ever come to Washington? I rarely have these things explained to me
+and I have little time to interfere with the decisions of the Adjutant
+General's office."
+
+I replied: "No, Mr. President, they are not the men you see around
+Washington. Our regiment stays on the frontier, and these men are the
+ones who do the fighting, and you people here in Washington are apt to
+forget all about them."
+
+"What have they ever done? Were they in the Civil War?" he asked.
+
+"Their records stand in black and white in the War Department," I
+replied, "if you have the interest to learn more about them."
+
+"Women's opinions are influenced by their feelings," he said.
+
+"Mine are based upon what I know, and I am prepared to stand by my
+convictions," I replied.
+
+Soon after this interview, I returned to New York and I did not give the
+matter very much further thought, but my impression of the greatness of
+Mr. Cleveland and of his powerful personality has remained with me to
+this day.
+
+A vacancy occurred about this time in the Quartermaster's Department,
+and the appointment was eagerly sought for by many Lieutenants of the
+army. President Cleveland saw fit to give the appointment to Lieutenant
+Summerhayes, making him a Captain and Quartermaster, and then, another
+vacancy occurring shortly after, he appointed Lieutenant John McEwen
+Hyde to be also a Captain and Quartermaster.
+
+Lieutenant Hyde stood next in rank to my husband and had grown grey in
+the old Eighth Infantry. So the regiment came in for its honor at last,
+and General Kautz, when the news of the second appointment reached him,
+exclaimed, "Well! well! does the President think my regiment a nursery
+for the Staff?"
+
+The Eighth Foot and the Ninth Horse at Niobrara gave the new Captain and
+Quartermaster a rousing farewell, for now my husband was leaving his old
+regiment forever; and, while he appreciated fully the honor of his new
+staff position, he felt a sadness at breaking off the associations of
+so many years--a sadness which can scarcely be understood by the young
+officers of the present day, who are promoted from one regiment to
+another, and rarely remain long enough with one organization to know
+even the men of their own Company.
+
+There were many champagne suppers, dinners and card-parties given for
+him, to make the good-bye something to be remembered, and at the end of
+a week's festivities, he departed by a night train from Valentine, thus
+eluding the hospitality of those generous but wild frontiersmen, who
+were waiting to give him what they call out there a "send-off."
+
+For Valentine was like all frontier towns; a row of stores and saloons.
+The men who kept them were generous, if somewhat rough. One of the
+officers of the post, having occasion to go to the railroad station one
+day at Valentine, saw the body of a man hanging to a telegraph pole a
+short distance up the track. He said to the station man: "What does that
+mean?" (nodding his head in the direction of the telegraph pole).
+
+"Why, it means just this," said the station man, "the people who hung
+that man last night had the nerve to put him right in front of this
+place, by G--. What would the passengers think of this town, sir, as
+they went by? Why, the reputation of Valentine would be ruined! Yes,
+sir, we cut him down and moved him up a pole or two. He was a hard case,
+though," he added.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI. SANTA FE
+
+I made haste to present Captain Summerhayes with the shoulder-straps of
+his new rank, when he joined me in New York.
+
+
+*****
+
+
+The orders for Santa Fe reached us in mid-summer at Nantucket. I knew
+about as much of Santa Fe as the average American knows, and that was
+nothing; but I did know that the Staff appointment solved the problem of
+education for us (for Staff officers are usually stationed in cities),
+and I knew that our frontier life was over. I welcomed the change, for
+our children were getting older, and we were ourselves approaching the
+age when comfort means more to one than it heretofore has.
+
+Jack obeyed his sudden orders, and I followed him as soon as possible.
+
+Arriving at Santa Fe in the mellow sunlight of an October day, we were
+met by my husband and an officer of the Tenth Infantry, and as we drove
+into the town, its appearance of placid content, its ancient buildings,
+its great trees, its clear air, its friendly, indolent-looking
+inhabitants, gave me a delightful feeling of home. A mysterious charm
+seemed to possess me. It was the spell which that old town loves to
+throw over the strangers who venture off the beaten track to come within
+her walls.
+
+Lying only eighteen miles away, over a small branch road from Llamy
+(a station on the Atchison and Topeka Railroad), few people take the
+trouble to stop over to visit it. "Dead old town," says the commercial
+traveller, "nothing doing there."
+
+And it is true.
+
+But no spot that I have visited in this country has thrown around me
+the spell of enchantment which held me fast in that sleepy and historic
+town.
+
+The Governor's Palace, the old plaza, the ancient churches, the
+antiquated customs, the Sisters' Hospital, the old Convent of Our Lady
+of Loretto, the soft music of the Spanish tongue, I loved them all.
+
+There were no factories; no noise was ever heard; the sun shone
+peacefully on, through winter and summer alike. There was no cold,
+no heat, but a delightful year-around climate. Why the place was not
+crowded with health seekers, was a puzzle to me. I had thought that the
+bay of San Francisco offered the most agreeable climate in America,
+but, in the Territory of New Mexico, Santa Fe was the perfection of all
+climates combined.
+
+The old city lies in the broad valley of the Santa Fe Creek, but the
+valley of the Santa Fe Creek lies seven thousand feet above the
+sea level. I should never have known that we were living at a great
+altitude, if I had not been told, for the equable climate made us forget
+to inquire about height or depth or distance.
+
+I listened to old Father de Fourri preach his short sermons in English
+to the few Americans who sat on one side of the aisle, in the church of
+Our Lady of Guadaloupe; then, turning with an easy gesture towards his
+Mexican congregation, who sat or knelt near the sanctuary, and saying,
+"Hermanos mios," he gave the same discourse in good Spanish. I felt
+comfortable in the thought that I was improving my Spanish as well as
+profiting by Father de Fourri's sound logic. This good priest had grown
+old at Santa Fe in the service of his church.
+
+The Mexican women, with their black ribosos wound around their heads and
+concealing their faces, knelt during the entire mass, and made many long
+responses in Latin.
+
+After years spent in a heathenish manner, as regards all church
+observations, this devout and unique service, following the customs of
+ancient Spain, was interesting to me in the extreme.
+
+Sometimes on a Sunday afternoon I attended Vespers in the chapel of
+the Sisters' Hospital (as it was called). A fine Sanitarium, managed
+entirely by the Roman Catholic Sisters of Charity.
+
+Sister Victoria, who was at the head of the management, was not only a
+very beautiful woman, but she had an agreeable voice and always led in
+the singing.
+
+It seemed like Heaven.
+
+I wrote to my friends in the East to come to the Sisters' Hospital if
+they wanted health, peace and happiness, for it was surely to be found
+there. I visited the convent of Our Lady of Loretto: I stood before a
+high wall in an embrasure of which there was a low wooden gate; I pulled
+on a small knotted string which hung out of a little hole, and a
+queer old bell rang. Then one of the nuns came and let me in, across a
+beautiful garden to the convent school. I placed my little daughter as
+a day pupil there, as she was now eleven years old. The nuns spoke very
+little English and the children none at all.
+
+The entire city was ancient, Spanish, Catholic, steeped in a religious
+atmosphere and in what the average American Protestant would call
+the superstitions of the dark ages. There were endless fiestas, and
+processions and religious services, I saw them all and became much
+interested in reading the history of the Catholic missions, established
+so early out through what was then a wild and unexplored country. After
+that, I listened with renewed interest to old Father de Fouri, who had
+tended and led his flock of simple people so long and so lovingly.
+
+There was a large painting of Our Lady of Guadaloupe over the
+altar--these people firmly believed that she had appeared to them, on
+the earth, and so strong was the influence around me that I began almost
+to believe it too. I never missed the Sunday morning mass, and I fell in
+easily with the religious observances.
+
+I read and studied about the old explorers, and I seemed to live in
+the time of Cortez and his brave band. I became acquainted with Adolf
+Bandelier, who had lived for years in that country, engaged in research
+for the American Archaeological Society. I visited the Indian pueblos,
+those marvellous structures of adobe, where live entire tribes, and saw
+natives who have not changed their manner of speech or dress since the
+days when the Spaniards first penetrated to their curious dwellings,
+three hundred or more years ago. I climbed the rickety ladders, by which
+one enters these strange dwellings, and bought the great bowls which
+these Indians shape in some manner without the assistance of a potter's
+wheel, and then bake in their mud ovens.
+
+The pueblo of Tesuque is only nine miles from Santa Fe, and a pleasant
+drive, at that; it seemed strange to me that the road was not lined
+with tourists. But no, they pass all these wonders by, in their
+disinclination to go off the beaten track.
+
+Visiting the pueblos gets to be a craze. Governor and Mrs. Prince knew
+them all--the pueblo of Taos, of Santa Clara, San Juan, and others; and
+the Governor's collection of great stone idols was a marvel indeed.
+He kept them laid out on shelves, which resembled the bunks on a
+great vessel, and in an apartment especially reserved for them, in his
+residence at Santa Fe, and it was always with considerable awe that
+I entered that apartment. The Governor occupied at that time a low,
+rambling adobe house, on Palace Avenue, and this, with its thick walls
+and low window-seats, made a fit setting for the treasures they had
+gathered.
+
+Later on, the Governor's family occupied the palace (as it is always
+called) of the old Spanish Viceroy, a most ancient, picturesque, yet
+dignified building, facing the plaza.
+
+The various apartments in this old palace were used for Government
+offices when we were stationed there in 1889, and in one of these rooms,
+General Lew Wallace, a few years before, had written his famous book,
+"Ben Hur."
+
+On the walls were hanging old portraits painted by the Spaniards in
+the sixteenth century. They were done on rawhide, and whether these
+interesting and historic pictures have been preserved by our Government
+I do not know.
+
+The distinguished Anglican clergyman living there taught a small class
+of boys, and the "Academy," an excellent school established by the
+Presbyterian Board of Missions, afforded good advantages for the young
+girls of the garrison. And as we had found that the Convent of Loretto
+was not just adapted to the education of an American child, we withdrew
+Katharine from that school and placed her at the Presbyterian Academy.
+
+To be sure, the young woman teacher gave a rousing lecture on total
+abstinence once a week; going even so far as to say, that to partake of
+apple sauce which had begun to ferment was yielding to the temptations
+of Satan. The young woman's arguments made a disastrous impression
+upon our children's minds; so much so, that the rich German Jews whose
+daughters attended the school complained greatly; for, as they told us,
+these girls would hasten to snatch the decanters from the sideboard,
+at the approach of visitors, and hide them, and they began to sit
+in judgment upon their elders. Now these men were among the leading
+citizens of the town; they were self-respecting and wealthy. They could
+not stand these extreme doctrines, so opposed to their life and their
+traditions. We informed Miss X. one day that she could excuse our
+children from the total abstinence lecture, or we should be compelled
+to withdraw them from the school. She said she could not compel them to
+listen, but preach she must. She remained obedient to her orders from
+the Board, and we could but respect her for that. Our young daughters
+were, however, excused from the lecture.
+
+But our time was not entirely given up to the study of ancient pottery,
+for the social life there was delightful. The garrison was in the centre
+of the town, the houses were comfortable, and the streets shaded by old
+trees. The Tenth Infantry had its headquarters and two companies there.
+Every afternoon, the military band played in the Plaza, where everybody
+went and sat on benches in the shade of the old trees, or, if cool, in
+the delightful sunshine. The pretty and well-dressed senoritas cast shy
+glances at the young officers of the Tenth; but, alas! the handsome
+and attractive Lieutenants Van Vliet and Seyburn, and the more sedate
+Lieutenant Plummer, could not return these bewitching glances, as they
+were all settled in life.
+
+The two former officers had married in Detroit, and both Mrs. Van Vliet
+and Mrs. Seyburn did honor to the beautiful city of Michigan, for they
+were most agreeable and clever women, and presided over their army homes
+with distinguished grace and hospitality.
+
+The Americans who lived there were all professional people; mostly
+lawyers, and a few bankers. I could not understand why so many Eastern
+lawyers lived there. I afterwards learned that the old Spanish land
+grants had given rise to illimitable and never-ending litigation.
+
+Every morning we rode across country. There were no fences, but the wide
+irrigation ditches gave us a plenty of excitement, and the riding was
+glorious. I had no occasion yet to realize that we had left the line of
+the army.
+
+A camping trip to the head-waters of the Pecos, where we caught speckled
+trout in great abundance in the foaming riffles and shallow pools
+of this rushing mountain stream, remaining in camp a week under the
+spreading boughs of the mighty pines, added to the variety and delights
+of our life there.
+
+With such an existence as this, good health and diversion, the time
+passed rapidly by.
+
+It was against the law now for soldiers to marry; the old days of
+"laundresses" had passed away. But the trombone player of the Tenth
+Infantry band (a young Boston boy) had married a wife, and now a baby
+had come to them. They could get no quarters, so we took the family in,
+and, as the wife was an excellent cook, we were able to give many small
+dinners. The walls of the house being three feet thick, we were never
+troubled by the trombone practice or the infant's cries. And many a
+delightful evening we had around the board, with Father de Fourri,
+Rev. Mr. Meany (the Anglican clergyman), the officers and ladies of the
+Tenth, Governor and Mrs. Prince, and the brilliant lawyer folk of Santa
+Fe.
+
+Such an ideal life cannot last long; this existence of ours does not
+seem to be contrived on those lines. At the end of a year, orders came
+for Texas, and perhaps it was well that orders came, or we might be in
+Santa Fe to-day, wrapt in a dream of past ages; for the city of the Holy
+Faith had bound us with invisible chains.
+
+With our departure from Santa Fe, all picturesqueness came to an end in
+our army life. Ever after that, we had really good houses to live in,
+which had all modern arrangements; we had beautiful, well-kept lawns
+and gardens, the same sort of domestic service that civilians have, and
+lived almost the same life.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII. TEXAS
+
+Whenever I think of San Antonio and Fort Sam Houston, the perfume of the
+wood violet which blossomed in mid-winter along the borders of our lawn,
+and the delicate odor of the Cape jessamine, seem to be wafted about me.
+
+Fort Sam Houston is the Headquarters of the Department of Texas, and all
+the Staff officers live there, in comfortable stone houses, with broad
+lawns shaded by chinaberry trees. Then at the top of the hill is a great
+quadrangle, with a clock tower and all the department offices. On the
+other side of this quadrangle is the post, where the line officers live.
+
+General Stanley commanded the Department. A fine, dignified and able
+man, with a great record as an Indian fighter. Jack knew him well, as
+he had been with him in the first preliminary survey for the northern
+Pacific Railroad, when he drove old Sitting Bull back to the Powder
+River.
+
+He was now about to reach the age of retirement; and as the day
+approached, that day when a man has reached the limit of his usefulness
+(in the opinion of an ever-wise Government), that day which sounds the
+knell of active service, that day so dreaded and yet so longed for, that
+day when an army officer is sixty-four years old and Uncle Sam lays him
+upon the shelf, as that day approached, the city of San Antonio, in fact
+the entire State of Texas poured forth to bid him Godspeed; for if ever
+an army man was beloved, it was General Stanley by the State of Texas.
+
+Now on the other side of the great quadrangle lay the post, where were
+the soldiers' barracks and quarters of the line officers. This was
+commanded by Colonel Coppinger, a gallant officer, who had fought in
+many wars in many countries.
+
+He had his famous regiment, the Twenty-third Infantry, and many were
+the pleasant dances and theatricals we had, with the music furnished
+by their band; for, as it was a time of peace, the troops were all in
+garrison.
+
+Major Burbank was there also, with his well-drilled Light Battery of the
+3rd Artillery.
+
+My husband, being a Captain and Quartermaster, served directly under
+General George H. Weeks, who was Chief Quartermaster of the Department,
+and I can never forget his kindness to us both. He was one of the best
+men I ever knew, in the army or out of it, and came to be one of my
+dearest friends. He possessed the sturdy qualities of his Puritan
+ancestry, united with the charming manners of an aristocrat.
+
+We belonged, of course, now, with the Staff, and something, an
+intangible something, seemed to have gone out of the life. The officers
+were all older, and the Staff uniforms were more sombre. I missed
+the white stripe of the infantry, and the yellow of the cavalry. The
+shoulder-straps all had gold eagles or leaves on them, instead of
+the Captains' or Lieutenants' bars. Many of the Staff officers wore
+civilians' clothes, which distressed me much, and I used to tell them
+that if I were Secretary of War they would not be permitted to go about
+in black alpaca coats and cinnamon-brown trousers.
+
+"What would you have us do?" said General Weeks.
+
+"Wear white duck and brass buttons," I replied.
+
+"Fol-de-rol!" said the fine-looking and erect Chief Quartermaster; "you
+would have us be as vain as we were when we were Lieutenants?"
+
+"You can afford to be," I answered; for, even with his threescore years,
+he had retained the lines of youth, and was, in my opinion, the finest
+looking man in the Staff of the Army.
+
+But all my reproaches and all my diplomacy were of no avail in reforming
+the Staff. Evidently comfort and not looks was their motto.
+
+One day, I accidentally caught a side view of myself in a long mirror
+(long mirrors had not been very plentiful on the frontier), and was
+appalled by the fact that my own lines corresponded but too well, alas!
+with those of the Staff. Ah, me! were the days, then, of Lieutenants
+forever past and gone? The days of suppleness and youth, the careless
+gay days, when there was no thought for the future, no anxiety about
+education, when the day began with a wild dash across country and ended
+with a dinner and dance---were they over, then, for us all?
+
+Major Burbank's battery of light artillery came over and enlivened the
+quiet of our post occasionally with their brilliant red color. At those
+times, we all went out and stood in the music pavilion to watch the
+drill; and when his horses and guns and caissons thundered down the hill
+and swept by us at a terrific gallop, our hearts stood still. Even the
+dignified Staff permitted themselves a thrill, and as for us women, our
+excitement knew no bounds.
+
+The brilliant red of the artillery brought color to the rather grey
+aspect of the quiet Headquarters post, and the magnificent drill
+supplied the martial element so dear to a woman's heart.
+
+In San Antonio, the New has almost obliterated the Old, and little
+remains except its pretty green river, its picturesque bridges, and the
+historic Alamo, to mark it from other cities in the Southwest.
+
+In the late afternoon, everybody drove to the Plaza, where all the
+country people were selling their garden-stuff and poultry in the open
+square. This was charming, and we all bought live fowl and drove
+home again. One heard cackling and gobbling from the smart traps and
+victorias, and it seemed to be a survival of an old custom. The whole
+town took a drive after that, and supped at eight o'clock.
+
+The San Antonio people believe there is no climate to equal theirs, and
+talk much about the cool breezes from the Gulf of Mexico, which is some
+miles away. But I found seven months of the twelve too hot for comfort,
+and I could never detect much coolness in the summer breezes.
+
+After I settled down to the sedateness which is supposed to belong to
+the Staff, I began to enjoy life very much. There is compensation for
+every loss, and I found, with the new friends, many of whom had lived
+their lives, and had known sorrow and joy, a true companionship which
+enriched my life, and filled the days with gladness.
+
+My son had completed the High School course in San Antonio, under an
+able German master, and had been sent East to prepare for the Stevens
+Institute of Technology, and in the following spring I took my daughter
+Katharine and fled from the dreaded heat of a Texas summer. Never can I
+forget the child's grief on parting from her Texas pony. She extorted a
+solemn promise from her father, who was obliged to stay in Texas, that
+he would never part with him.
+
+My brother, then unmarried, and my sister Harriet were living together
+in New Rochelle and to them we went. Harry's vacation enabled him to be
+with us, and we had a delightful summer. It was good to be on the shores
+of Long Island Sound.
+
+In the autumn, not knowing what next was in store for us, I placed my
+dear little Katharine at the Convent of the Sacred Heart at Kenwood
+on the Hudson, that she might be able to complete her education in one
+place, and in the care of those lovely, gentle and refined ladies of
+that order.
+
+Shortly after that, Captain Jack was ordered to David's Island, New
+York Harbor (now called Fort Slocum), where we spent four happy and
+uninterrupted years, in the most constant intercourse with my dear
+brother and sister.
+
+Old friends were coming and going all the time, and it seemed so good to
+us to be living in a place where this was possible.
+
+Captain Summerhayes was constructing officer and had a busy life, with
+all the various sorts of building to be done there.
+
+David's Island was then an Artillery Post, and there were several
+batteries stationed there. (Afterwards it became a recruiting station.)
+The garrison was often entirely changed. At one time, General Henry C.
+Cook was in command. He and his charming Southern wife added so much to
+the enjoyment of the post. Then came our old friends the Van Vliets of
+Santa Fe days; and Dr. and Mrs. Valery Havard, who are so well known in
+the army, and then Colonel Carl Woodruff and Mrs. Woodruff, whom we all
+liked so much, and dear Doctor Julian Cabell, and others, who completed
+a delightful garrison.
+
+And we had a series of informal dances and invited the distinguished
+members of the artist colony from New Rochelle, and it was at one of
+these dances that I first met Frederic Remington. I had long admired his
+work and had been most anxious to meet him. As a rule, Frederic did
+not attend any social functions, but he loved the army, and as Mrs.
+Remington was fond of social life, they were both present at our first
+little invitation dance.
+
+About the middle of the evening I noticed Mr. Remington sitting alone
+and I crossed the hall and sat down beside him. I then told him how much
+I had loved his work and how it appealed to all army folks, and how
+glad I was to know him, and I suppose I said many other things such
+as literary men and painters and players often have to hear from
+enthusiastic women like myself. However, Frederic seemed pleased, and
+made some modest little speech and then fell into an abstracted silence,
+gazing on the great flag which was stretched across the hall at one
+end, and from behind which some few soldiers who were going to assist
+in serving the supper were passing in and out. I fell in with his mood
+immediately, as he was a person with whom formality was impossible, and
+said: "What are you looking at, Mr. Remington?" He replied, turning
+upon me his round boyish face and his blue eyes gladdening, "I was
+just thinking I wished I was behind in there where those blue jackets
+are--you know--behind that flag with the soldiers--those are the men
+I like to study, you know, I don't like all this fuss and feathers of
+society"--then, blushing at his lack of gallantry, he added: "It's all
+right, of course, pretty women and all that, and I suppose you think I'm
+dreadful and--do you want me to dance with you--that's the proper thing
+here isn't it?" Whereupon, he seized me in his great arms and whirled me
+around at a pace I never dreamed of, and, once around, he said, "that's
+enough of this thing, isn't it, let's sit down, I believe I'm going to
+like you, though I'm not much for women." I said "You must come over
+here often;" and he replied, "You've got a lot of jolly good fellows
+over here and I will do it."
+
+Afterwards, the Remingtons and ourselves became the closest friends.
+Mrs. Remington's maiden name was Eva Caton, and after the first few
+meetings, she became "little Eva" to me--and if ever there was an
+embodiment of that gentle lovely name and what it implies, it is this
+woman, the wife of the great artist, who has stood by him through all
+the reverses of his early life and been, in every sense, his guiding
+star.
+
+And now began visits to the studio, a great room he had built on to his
+house at New Rochelle. It had an enormous fire place where great logs
+were burned, and the walls were hung with the most rare and wonderful
+Indian curios. There he did all the painting which has made him famous
+in the last twenty years, and all the modelling which has already become
+so well known and would have eventually made him a name as a great
+sculptor. He always worked steadily until three o'clock and then
+there was a walk or game of tennis or a ride. After dinner, delightful
+evenings in the studio.
+
+Frederic was a student and a deep thinker. He liked to solve all
+questions for himself and did not accept readily other men's theories.
+He thought much on religious subjects and the future life, and liked to
+compare the Christian religion with the religions of Eastern countries,
+weighing them one against the other with fairness and clear logic.
+
+And so we sat, many evenings into the night, Frederic and Jack stretched
+in their big leather chairs puffing away at their pipes, Eva with her
+needlework, and myself a rapt listener: wondering at this man of genius,
+who could work with his creative brush all day long and talk with the
+eloquence of a learned Doctor of Divinity half the night.
+
+During the time we were stationed at Davids Island, Mr. Remington and
+Jack made a trip to the Southwest, where they shot the peccary (wild
+hog) in Texas and afterwards blue quail and other game in Mexico.
+Artist and soldier, they got on famously together notwithstanding the
+difference in their ages.
+
+And now he was going to try his hand at a novel, a real romance. We
+talked a good deal about the little Indian boy, and I got to love White
+Weasel long before he appeared in print as John Ermine. The book came
+out after we had left New Rochelle--but I received a copy from him, and
+wrote him my opinion of it, which was one of unstinted praise. But it
+did not surprise me to learn that he did not consider it a success from
+a financial point of view.
+
+"You see," he said a year afterwards, "that sort of thing does not
+interest the public. What they want,"--here he began to mimic some funny
+old East Side person, and both hands gesticulating--"is a back yard and
+a cabbage patch and a cook stove and babies' clothes drying beside it,
+you see, Mattie," he said. "They don't want to know anything about the
+Indian or the half-breed, or what he thinks or believes." And then he
+went off into one of his irresistible tirades combining ridicule and
+abuse of the reading public, in language such as only Frederic Remington
+could use before women and still retain his dignity. "Well, Frederic," I
+said, "I will try to recollect that, when I write my experiences of Army
+Life."
+
+In writing him my opinion of his book the year before, I had said, "In
+fact, I am in love with John Ermine." The following Christmas he sent me
+the accompanying card.
+
+Now the book was dramatized and produced, with Hackett as John Ermine,
+at the Globe Theatre in September of 1902--the hottest weather ever on
+record in Boston at that season. Of course seats were reserved for us;
+we were living at Nantucket that year, and we set sail at noon to see
+the great production. We snatched a bite of supper at a near-by hotel in
+Boston and hurried to the theatre, but being late, had some difficulty
+in getting our seats.
+
+The curtain was up and there sat Hackett, not with long yellow hair
+(which was the salient point in the half-breed scout) but rather
+well-groomed, looking more like a parlor Indian than a real live
+half-breed, such as all we army people knew. I thought "this will never
+do."
+
+The house was full, Hackett did the part well, and the audience murmured
+on going out: "a very artistic success." But the play was too mystical,
+too sad. It would have suited the "New Theatre" patrons better. I wrote
+him from Nantucket and criticized one or two minor points, such as the
+1850 riding habits of the women, which were slouchy and unbecoming and
+made the army people look like poor emigrants and I received this letter
+in reply:
+
+WEBSTER AVENUE, NEW ROCHELLE, N. Y.
+
+My dear Mrs. S.,
+
+Much obliged for your talk--it is just what we want--proper impressions.
+
+I fought for that long hair but the management said the audience has got
+to, have some Hackett--why I could not see--but he is a matinee idol and
+that long with the box office.
+
+We'll dress Katherine up better.
+
+The long rehearsals at night nearly killed me--I was completely done up
+and came home on train Monday in that terrific heat and now I am in the
+hands of a doctor. Imagine me a week without sleep.
+
+Hope that fight took Jack back to his youth. For the stage I don't think
+it was bad. We'll get grey shirts on their men later.
+
+The old lady arrives to-day--she has been in Gloversville.
+
+I think the play will go--but, we may have to save Ermine. The public is
+a funny old cat and won't stand for the mustard.
+
+Well, glad you had a good time and of course you can't charge me up with
+the heat.
+
+Yours, FREDERICK R.
+
+
+Remington made a trip to the Yellowstone Park and this is what he wrote
+to Jack. His letters were never dated.
+
+My dear Summerhayes:
+
+Say if you could get a few puffs of this cold air out here you would
+think you were full of champagne water. I feel like a d--- kid--
+
+I thought I should never be young again--but here I am only 14 years
+old--my whiskers are falling out.
+
+Capt. Brown of the 1st cav. wishes to be remembered to you both. He is
+Park Superintendent. Says if you will come out here he will take care of
+you and he would.
+
+Am painting and doing some good work. Made a "govt. six" yesterday.
+
+In the course of time, he bought an Island in the St. Lawrence and they
+spent several summers there.
+
+On the occasion of my husband accepting a detail in active service in
+Washington at the Soldiers' Home, after his retirement, he received the
+following letter.
+
+
+INGLENEUK, CHIPPEWA BAY, N. Y.
+
+My dear Jack--
+
+So there you are--and I'm d--- glad you are so nicely fixed. It's the
+least they could do for you and you ought to be able to enjoy it for ten
+years before they find any spavins on you if you will behave yourself,
+but I guess you will drift into that Army and Navy Club and round up
+with a lot of those old alkalied prairie-dogs whom neither Indians
+nor whiskey could kill and Mr. Gout will take you over his route to
+Arlington.
+
+I'm on the water wagon and I feel like a young mule. I am never going to
+get down again to try the walking. If I lose my whip I am going to drive
+right on and leave it.
+
+We are having a fine summer and I may run over to Washington this winter
+and throw my eye over you to see how you go. We made a trip down to New
+Foundland but saw nothing worth while. I guess I am getting to be an old
+swat--I can't see anything that didn't happen twenty years ago,
+
+Y-- FREDERICK R.
+
+
+At the close of the year just gone, this great soul passed from the
+earth leaving a blank in our lives that nothing can ever fill. Passed
+into the great Beyond whose mysteries were always troubling his mind.
+Suddenly and swiftly the call came--the hand was stilled and the
+restless spirit took its flight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII. DAVID'S ISLAND
+
+At Davids' Island the four happiest years of my army life glided swiftly
+away.
+
+There was a small steam tug which made regular and frequent trips over
+to New Rochelle and we enjoyed our intercourse with the artists and
+players who lived there.
+
+Zogbaum, whose well known pictures of sailors and warships and soldiers
+had reached us even in the far West, and whose charming family added so
+much to our pleasure.
+
+Julian Hawthorne with his daughter Hildegarde, now so well known as a
+literary critic; Henry Loomis Nelson, whose fair daughter Margaret
+came to our little dances and promptly fell in love with a young, slim,
+straight Artillery officer. A case of love at first sight, followed by a
+short courtship and a beautiful little country wedding at Miss Nelson's
+home on the old Pelham Road, where Hildegarde Hawthorne was bridesmaid
+in a white dress and scarlet flowers (the artillery colors) and many
+famous literary people from everywhere were present.
+
+Augustus Thomas, the brilliant playwright, whose home was near the
+Remingtons on Lathers' Hill, and whose wife, so young, so beautiful and
+so accomplished, made that home attractive and charming.
+
+Francis Wilson, known to the world at large, first as a singer in comic
+opera, and now as an actor and author, also lived in New Rochelle,
+and we came to have the honor of being numbered amongst his friends. A
+devoted husband and kind father, a man of letters and a book lover, such
+is the man as we knew him in his home and with his family.
+
+And now came the delicious warm summer days. We persuaded the
+Quartermaster to prop up the little row of old bathing houses which had
+toppled over with the heavy winter gales. There were several bathing
+enthusiasts amongst us; we had a pretty fair little stretch of beach
+which was set apart for the officers' families, and now what bathing
+parties we had! Kemble, the illustrator, joined our ranks--and on a warm
+summer morning the little old Tug Hamilton was gay with the artists and
+their families, the players and writers of plays, and soon you could see
+the little garrison hastening to the beach and the swimmers running down
+the long pier, down the run-way and off head first into the clear waters
+of the Sound. What a company was that! The younger and the older ones
+all together, children and their fathers and mothers, all happy, all
+well, all so gay, and we of the frontier so enamored of civilization
+and what it brought us! There were no intruders and ah! those were happy
+days. Uncle Sam seemed to be making up to us for what we had lost during
+all those long years in the wild places.
+
+Then Augustus Thomas wrote the play of "Arizona" and we went to New York
+to see it put on, and we sat in Mr. Thomas' box and saw our frontier
+life brought before us with startling reality.
+
+And so one season followed another. Each bringing its pleasures, and
+then came another lovely wedding, for my brother Harry gave up his
+bachelor estate and married one of the nicest and handsomest girls in
+Westchester County, and their home in New Rochelle was most attractive.
+My son was at the Stevens Institute and both he and Katharine were able
+to spend their vacations at David's Island, and altogether, our life
+there was near to perfection.
+
+We were doomed to have one more tour in the West, however, and this time
+it was the Middle West.
+
+For in the autumn of '96, Jack was ordered to Jefferson Barracks,
+Missouri, on construction work.
+
+Jefferson Barracks is an old and historic post on the Mississippi River,
+some ten miles south of St. Louis. I could not seem to take any interest
+in the post or in the life there. I could not form new ties so quickly,
+after our life on the coast, and I did not like the Mississippi Valley,
+and St. Louis was too far from the post, and the trolley ride over there
+too disagreeable for words. After seven months of just existing (on my
+part) at Jefferson Barracks, Jack received an order for Fort Myer, the
+end, the aim, the dream of all army people. Fort Myer is about three
+miles from Washington, D. C.
+
+We lost no time in getting there and were soon settled in our pleasant
+quarters. There was some building to be done, but the duty was
+comparatively light, and we entered with considerable zest into the
+social life of the Capital. We expected to remain there for two years,
+at the end of which time Captain Summerhayes would be retired and
+Washington would be our permanent home.
+
+But alas! our anticipation was never to be realized, for, as we all
+know, in May of 1898, the Spanish War broke out, and my husband was
+ordered to New York City to take charge of the Army Transport Service,
+under Colonel Kimball.
+
+No delay was permitted to him, so I was left behind, to pack up the
+household goods and to dispose of our horses and carriages as best I
+could.
+
+The battle of Manila Bay had changed the current of our lives, and we
+were once more adrift.
+
+The young Cavalry officers came in to say good-bye to Captain Jack:
+every one was busy packing up his belongings for an indefinite period
+and preparing for the field. We all felt the undercurrent of sadness
+and uncertainty, but "a good health" and "happy return" was drunk
+all around, and Jack departed at midnight for his new station and new
+duties.
+
+The next morning at daybreak we were awakened by the tramp, tramp of the
+Cavalry, marching out of the post, en route for Cuba.
+
+We peered out of the windows and watched the troops we loved so well,
+until every man and horse had vanished from our sight.
+
+Fort Myer was deserted and our hearts were sad.
+
+
+*****
+
+My sister Harriet, who was visiting us at that time, returned from her
+morning walk, and as she stepped upon the porch, she said: "Well! of all
+lonesome places I ever saw, this is the worst yet. I am going to pack
+my trunk and leave. I came to visit an army post, but not an old women's
+home or an orphan asylum: that is about all this place is now. I simply
+cannot stay!"
+
+Whereupon, she proceeded immediately to carry out her resolution, and I
+was left behind with my young daughter, to finish and close up our life
+at Fort Myer.
+
+To describe the year which followed, that strenuous year in New York, is
+beyond my power.
+
+That summer gave Jack his promotion to a Major, but the anxiety and the
+terrible strain of official work broke down his health entirely, and in
+the following winter the doctors sent him to Florida, to recuperate.
+
+After six weeks in St. Augustine, we returned to New York. The stress
+of the war was over; the Major was ordered to Governor's Island as Chief
+Quartermaster, Department of the East, and in the following year he was
+retired, by operation of the law, at the age limit.
+
+I was glad to rest from the incessant changing of stations; the life
+had become irksome to me, in its perpetual unrest. I was glad to find a
+place to lay my head, and to feel that we were not under orders; to find
+and to keep a roof-tree, under which we could abide forever.
+
+In 1903, by an act of Congress, the veterans of the Civil War, who had
+served continuously for thirty years or more were given an extra
+grade, so now my hero wears with complacency the silver leaf of the
+Lieutenant-Colonel, and is enjoying the quiet life of a civilian.
+
+But that fatal spirit of unrest from which I thought to escape, and
+which ruled my life for so many years, sometimes asserts its power,
+and at those times my thoughts turn back to the days when we were all
+Lieutenants together, marching across the deserts and mountains of
+Arizona; back to my friends of the Eighth Infantry, that historic
+regiment, whose officers and men fought before the walls of Chapultepec
+and Mexico, back to my friends of the Sixth Cavalry, to the days at Camp
+MacDowell, where we slept under the stars, and watched the sun rise from
+behind the Four Peaks of the MacDowell Mountains: where we rode the
+big cavalry horses over the sands of the Maricopa desert, swung in our
+hammocks under the ramadas; swam in the red waters of the Verde River,
+ate canned peaches, pink butter and commissary hams, listened for the
+scratching of the centipedes as they scampered around the edges of our
+canvas-covered floors, found scorpions in our slippers, and rattlesnakes
+under our beds.
+
+The old post is long since abandoned, but the Four Peaks still stand,
+wrapped in their black shadows by night, and their purple colors by day,
+waiting for the passing of the Apache and the coming of the white man,
+who shall dig his canals in those arid plains, and build his cities upon
+the ruins of the ancient Aztec dwellings.
+
+The Sixth Cavalry, as well as the Eighth Infantry, has seen many
+vicissitudes since those days. Some of our gallant Captains and
+Lieutenants have won their stars, others have been slain in battle.
+
+Dear, gentle Major Worth received wounds in the Cuban campaign, which
+caused his death, but he wore his stars before he obeyed the "last
+call."
+
+The gay young officers of Angel Island days hold dignified commands in
+the Philippines, Cuba, and Alaska.
+
+
+*****
+
+
+My early experiences were unusually rough. None of us seek such
+experiences, but possibly they bring with them a sort of recompense, in
+that simple comforts afterwards seem, by contrast, to be the greatest
+luxuries.
+
+I am glad to have known the army: the soldiers, the line, and the Staff;
+it is good to think of honor and chivalry, obedience to duty and the
+pride of arms; to have lived amongst men whose motives were unselfish
+and whose aims were high; amongst men who served an ideal; who
+stood ready, at the call of their country, to give their lives for a
+Government which is, to them, the best in the world.
+
+Sometimes I hear the still voices of the Desert: they seem to be calling
+me through the echoes of the Past. I hear, in fancy, the wheels of the
+ambulance crunching the small broken stones of the malapais, or grating
+swiftly over the gravel of the smooth white roads of the river-bottoms.
+I hear the rattle of the ivory rings on the harness of the six-mule
+team; I see the soldiers marching on ahead; I see my white tent, so
+inviting after a long day's journey.
+
+But how vain these fancies! Railroad and automobile have annihilated
+distance, the army life of those years is past and gone, and Arizona, as
+we knew it, has vanished from the face of the earth.
+
+THE END.
+
+APPENDIX.
+
+NANTUCKET ISLAND, June 1910.
+
+When, a few years ago, I determined to write my recollections of life
+in the army, I was wholly unfamiliar with the methods of publishers, and
+the firm to whom I applied to bring out my book, did not urge upon me
+the advisability of having it electrotyped, firstly, because, as they
+said afterwards, I myself had such a very modest opinion of my book,
+and, secondly because they thought a book of so decidedly personal a
+character would not reach a sale of more than a few hundred copies at
+the farthest. The matter of electrotyping was not even discussed between
+us. The entire edition of one thousand copies was exhausted in about
+a year, without having been carried on the lists of any bookseller or
+advertised in any way except through some circulars sent by myself to
+personal friends, and through several excellent reviews in prominent
+newspapers.
+
+As the demand for the book continued, I have thought it advisable to
+re-issue it, adding a good deal that has come into my mind since its
+publication.
+
+
+*****
+
+
+It was after the Colonel's retirement that we came to spend the summers
+at Nantucket, and I began to enjoy the leisure that never comes into the
+life of an army woman during the active service of her husband. We were
+no longer expecting sudden orders, and I was able to think quietly over
+the events of the past.
+
+My old letters which had been returned to me really gave me the
+inspiration to write the book and as I read them over, the people and
+the events therein described were recalled vividly to my mind--events
+which I had forgotten, people whom I had forgotten--events and people
+all crowded out of my memory for many years by the pressure of family
+cares, and the succession of changes in our stations, by anxiety during
+Indian campaigns, and the constant readjustment of my mind to new scenes
+and new friends.
+
+And so, in the delicious quiet of the Autumn days at Nantucket, when the
+summer winds had ceased to blow and the frogs had ceased their pipings
+in the salt meadows, and the sea was wondering whether it should keep
+its summer blue or change into its winter grey, I sat down at my desk
+and began to write my story.
+
+Looking out over the quiet ocean in those wonderful November days, when
+a peaceful calm brooded over all things, I gathered up all the threads
+of my various experiences and wove them together.
+
+But the people and the lands I wrote about did not really exist for
+me; they were dream people and dream lands. I wrote of them as they had
+appeared to me in those early years, and, strange as it may seem, I did
+not once stop to think if the people and the lands still existed.
+
+For a quarter of a century I had lived in the day that began with
+reveille and ended with "Taps."
+
+Now on this enchanted island, there was no reveille to awaken us in the
+morning, and in the evening the only sound we could hear was the "ruck"
+of the waves on the far outer shores and the sad tolling of the bell
+buoy when the heaving swell of the ocean came rolling over the bar.
+
+And so I wrote, and the story grew into a book which was published and
+sent out to friends and family.
+
+As time passed on, I began to receive orders for the book from army
+officers, and then one day I received orders from people in Arizona and
+I awoke to the fact that Arizona was no longer the land of my memories.
+I began to receive booklets telling me of projected railroads, also
+pictures of wonderful buildings, all showing progress and prosperity.
+
+And then came letters from some Presidents of railroads whose lines ran
+through Arizona, and from bankers and politicians and business men
+of Tucson, Phoenix and Yuma City. Photographs showing shady roads and
+streets, where once all was a glare and a sandy waste. Letters from
+mining men who knew every foot of the roads we had marched over;
+pictures of the great Laguna dam on the Colorado, and of the quarters of
+the Government Reclamation Service Corps at Yuma.
+
+These letters and pictures told me of the wonderful contrast presented
+by my story to the Arizona of today; and although I had not spared that
+country, in my desire to place before my children and friends a vivid
+picture of my life out there, all these men seemed willing to forgive
+me and even declared that my story might do as much to advance their
+interests and the prosperity of Arizona as anything which had been
+written with only that object in view.
+
+My soul was calmed by these assurances, and I ceased to be distressed by
+thinking over the descriptions I had given of the unpleasant conditions
+existing in that country in the seventies.
+
+In the meantime, the San Francisco Chronicle had published a good review
+of my book, and reproduced the photograph of Captain Jack Mellon, the
+noted pilot of the Colorado river, adding that he was undoubtedly one of
+the most picturesque characters who had ever lived on the Pacific Coast
+and that he had died some years ago.
+
+And so he was really dead! And perhaps the others too, were all gone
+from the earth, I thought when one day I received a communication from
+an entire stranger, who informed me that the writer of the review in
+the San Francisco newspaper had been mistaken in the matter of Captain
+Mellon's death, that he had seen him recently and that he lived at San
+Diego. So I wrote to him and made haste to forward him a copy of my
+book, which reached him at Yuma, on the Colorado, and this is what he
+wrote:
+
+YUMA, Dec. 15th, 1908.
+
+My dear Mrs. Summerhayes:
+
+Your good book and letter came yesterday p. m., for which accept my
+thanks. My home is not in San Diego, but in Coronado, across the bay
+from San Diego. That is the reason I did not get your letter sooner.
+
+In one hour after I received your book, I had orders for nine of them.
+All these books go to the official force of the Reclamation Service here
+who are Damming the Colorado for the Government Irrigation Project. They
+are not Damming it as we formerly did, but with good solid masonry. The
+Dam is 4800 feet long and 300 feet wide and 10 feet above high water.
+In high water it will flow over the top of the Dam, but in low water
+the ditches or canals will take all the water out of the River, the
+approximate cost is three million. There will be a tunnel under the
+River at Yuma just below the Bridge, to bring the water into Arizona
+which is thickly settled to the Mexican Line.
+
+I have done nothing on the River since the 23rd of last August, at which
+date they closed the River to Navigation, and the only reason I am now
+in Yumais trying to get something from Government for my boats made
+useless by the Dam. I expect to get a little, but not a tenth of what
+they cost me.
+
+Your book could not have a better title: it is "Vanished Arizona" sure
+enough, vanished the good and warm Hearts that were here when you were.
+The People here now are cold blooded as a snake and are all trying to
+get the best of the other fellow.
+
+There are but two alive that were on the River when you were on it.
+Polhemus and myself are all that are left, but I have many friends on
+this coast.
+
+*****
+
+The nurse Patrocina died in Los Angeles last summer and the crying kid
+Jesusita she had on the boat when you went from Ehrenberg to the mouth
+of the River grew up to be the finest looking Girl in these Parts; She
+was the Star witness in a murder trial in Los Angeles last winter, and
+her picture was in all of the Papers.
+
+I am sending you a picture of the Steamer "Mojave" which was not on
+the river when you were here. I made 20 trips with her up to the Virgin
+River, which is 145 miles above Fort Mojave, or 75 miles higher than any
+other man has gone with a boat: she was 10 feet longer than the "Gila"
+or any other boat ever on the River. (Excuse this blowing but it's the
+truth).
+
+In 1864 I was on a trip down the Gulf of California, in a small sail
+boat and one of my companions was John Stanton. In Angel's Bay a man
+whom we were giving a passage to, murdered my partner and ran off with
+the boat and left Charley Ticen, John Stanton and myself on the beach.
+We were seventeen days tramping to a village with nothing to eat but
+cactus but I think I have told you the story before and what I want to
+know, is this Stanton alive. He belonged to New Bedford--his father had
+been master of a whale-ship.
+
+When we reached Guaymas, Stanton found a friend, the mate of a steamer,
+the mate also belonged to New Bedford. When we parted, Stanton told me
+he was going home and was going to stay there, and as he was two years
+younger than me, he may still be in New Bedford, and as you are on the
+ground, maybe you can help me to find out.
+
+All the people that I know praise your descriptive power and now my dear
+Mrs. Summerhayes I suppose you will have a hard time wading through my
+scrawl but I know you will be generous and remember that I went to sea
+when a little over nine years of age and had my pen been half as often
+in my hand as a marlin spike, I would now be able to write a much
+clearer hand.
+
+I have a little bungalow on Coronado Beach, across the bay from San
+Diego, and if you ever come there, you or your husband, you are welcome;
+while I have a bean you can have half. I would like to see you and talk
+over old times. Yuma is quite a place now; no more adobes built; it is
+brick and concrete, cement sidewalks and flower gardens with electric
+light and a good water system.
+
+My home is within five minutes walk of the Pacific Ocean. I was born at
+Digby, Nova Scotia, and the first music I ever heard was the surf of the
+Bay of Fundy, and when I close my eyes forever I hope the surf of the
+Pacific will be the last sound that will greet my ears.
+
+I read Vanished Arizona last night until after midnight, and thought
+what we both had gone through since you first came up the Colorado with
+me. My acquaintance with the army was always pleasant, and like Tom
+Moore I often say:
+
+Let fate do her worst, there are relics of joy Bright dreams of the past
+which she cannot destroy! Which come in the night-time of sorrow and
+care And bring back the features that joy used to wear. Long, long be my
+heart with such memories filled!
+
+I suppose the Colonel goes down to the Ship Chandler's and gams with the
+old whaling captains. When I was a boy, there was a wealthy family of
+ship-owners in New Bedford by the name of Robinson. I saw one of
+their ships in Bombay, India, that was in 1854, her name was the Mary
+Robinson, and altho' there were over a hundred ships on the bay, she was
+the handsomest there.
+
+Well, good friend, I am afraid I will tire you out, so I will belay
+this, and with best wishes for you and yours,
+
+I am, yours truly,
+
+J. A. MELLON.
+
+P. S.--Fisher is long since called to his Long Home.
+
+
+*****
+
+
+I had fancied, when Vanished Arizona was published, that it might
+possibly appeal to the sympathies of women, and that men would lay it
+aside as a sort-of a "woman's book"--but I have received more really
+sympathetic letters from men than I have from women, all telling me, in
+different words, that the human side of the story had appealed to them,
+and I suppose this comes from the fact that originally I wrote it for my
+children, and felt perfect freedom to put my whole self into it. And now
+that the book is entirely out of my hands, I am glad that I wrote it as
+I did, for if I had stopped to think that my dream people might be real
+people, and that the real people would read it, I might never have had
+the courage to write it at all.
+
+The many letters I have received of which there have been several
+hundred I am sure, have been so interesting that I reproduce a few more
+of them here:
+
+FORT BENJAMIN HARRISON, INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA. January 10, 1909.
+
+My dear Mrs. Summerhayes:
+
+I have just read the book. It is a good book, a true book, one of the
+best kind of books. After taking it up I did not lay it down till it was
+finished--till with you I had again gone over the malapais deserts of
+Arizona, and recalled my own meetings with you at Niobrara and at old
+Fort Marcy or Santa Fe. You were my cicerone in the old town and I
+couldn't have had a better one--or more charming one.
+
+The book has recalled many memories to me. Scarcely a name you mention
+but is or was a friend. Major Van Vliet loaned me his copy, but I shall
+get one of my own and shall tell my friends in the East that, if they
+desire a true picture of army life as it appears to the army woman, they
+must read your book.
+
+For my part I feel that I must congratulate you on your successful work
+and thank you for the pleasure you have given me in its perusal.
+
+With cordial regard to you and yours, and with best wishes for many
+happy years.
+
+Very sincerely yours,
+
+L. W. V. KENNON, Maj. 10th Inf.
+
+HEADQUARTERS THIRD BRIGADE, NATIONAL GUARD OF PENNSYLVANIA,
+WILKES-BARRE, PENNSYLVANIA. JANUARY 19, 1908.
+
+Dear Madam:
+
+I am sending you herewith my check for two copies of "Vanished Arizona."
+This summer our mutual friend, Colonel Beaumont (late 4th U. S. Cav.)
+ordered two copies for me and I have given them both away to friends
+whom I wanted to have read your delightful and charming book. I am now
+ordering one of these for another friend and wish to keep one in my
+record library as a memorable story of the bravery and courage of the
+noble band of army men and women who helped to blaze the pathway of the
+nation's progress in its course of Empire Westward.
+
+No personal record written, which I have read, tells so splendidly of
+what the good women of our army endured in the trials that beset the
+army in the life on the plains in the days succeeding the Civil War. And
+all this at a time when the nation and its people were caring but little
+for you all and the struggles you were making.
+
+I will be pleased indeed if you will kindly inscribe your name in one of
+the books you will send me.
+
+Sincerely Yours, C. B. DOUGHERTY, Brig. Gen'l N. G. Pa. Jan. 19, 1908
+
+SCHENECTADY, N. Y. June 8th, 1908.
+
+Mrs. John W. Summerhayes, North Shore Hill, Nantucket, Mass.
+
+My Dear Mrs. Summerhayes:
+
+Were I to say that I enjoyed "Vanished Arizona, "I should very
+inadequately express my feelings about it, because there is so much
+to arouse emotions deeper than what we call "enjoyment;" it stirs
+the sympathies and excites our admiration for your courage and your
+fortitude. In a word, the story, honest and unaffected, yet vivid, has
+in it that touch of nature which makes kin of us all.
+
+How actual knowledge and experience broadens our minds! Your
+appreciation of, and charity for, the weaknesses of those living a
+lonely life of deprivation on the frontier, impressed me very much.
+I wish too, that what you say about the canteen could be published in
+every newspaper in America.
+
+Very sincerely yours,
+
+M. F. WESTOVER, Secretary Gen'l Electric Co.
+
+THE MILITARY SERVICE INSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. Governor's
+Island, N. Y. June 25, 1908.
+
+Dear Mrs. Summerhayes:
+
+I offer my personal congratulations upon your success in producing
+a work of such absorbing interest to all friends of the Army, and so
+instructive to the public at large.
+
+I have just finished reading the book, from cover to cover, to my wife
+and we have enjoyed it thoroughly.
+
+Will you please advise me where the book can be purchased in New York,
+or otherwise mail two copies to me at 203 W. 54th Street, New York City,
+with memo of price per copy, that I may remit the amount.
+
+Very truly yours,
+
+T. F. RODENBOUGH, Secretary and Editor (Brig. Gen'l. U. S. A.)
+
+YALE UNIVERSITY, NEW HAVEN, CONN.
+
+May 15, 1910.
+
+Dear Mrs. Summerhayes:
+
+I have read every word of your book "Vanished Arizona" with intense
+interest. You have given a vivid account of what you actually saw and
+lived through, and nobody can resist the truthfulness and reality of
+your narrative. The book is a real contribution to American history, and
+to the chronicles of army life.
+
+Faithfully yours, WM. LYON PHELPS,
+
+[Professor of English literature at Yale University.]
+
+LONACONING, MD., Jan. 2, 1909.
+
+Col. J. W. Summerhays, New Rochelle, N. Y.
+
+Dear Sir:
+
+Captain William Baird, 6th Cavalry, retired, now at Annapolis, sent me
+Mrs. Summerhay's book to read, and I have read it with delight, for
+I was in "K" when Mrs. Summerhays "took on" in the 8th. Myself and my
+brother, Michael, served in "K" Company from David's Island to Camp
+Apache. Doubtless you have forgotten me, but I am sure that you remember
+the tall fifer of "K", Michael Gurnett. He was killed at Camp Mohave in
+Sept. 1885, while in Company "G" of the 1st Infantry. I was five years
+in "K", but my brother re-enlisted in "K", and afterward joined the
+First. He served in the 31st, 22nd, 8th and 1st.
+
+Oh, that little book! We're all in it, even poor Charley Bowen. Mrs.
+Summerhays should have written a longer story. She soldiered long enough
+with the 8th in the "bloody 70's" to be able to write a book five times
+as big. For what she's done, God bless her! She is entitled to the
+Irishman's benediction: "May every hair in her head be a candle to light
+her soul to glory." We poor old Regulars have little said about us in
+print, and wish to God that "Vanished Arizona" was in the hands of every
+old veteran of the "Marching 8th." If I had the means I would send a
+copy to our 1st Serg't Bernard Moran, and the other old comrades at the
+Soldiers' Home. But, alas, evil times have fallen upon us, and--I'm not
+writing a jeremiad--I took the book from the post office and when I saw
+the crossed guns and the "8" there was a lump in my throat, and I went
+into the barber shop and read it through before I left. A friend of mine
+was in the shop and when I came to Pringle's death, he said, "Gurnett,
+that must be a sad book you're reading, why man, you're crying."
+
+I believe I was, but they were tears of joy. And, Oh, Lord, to think of
+Bowen having a full page in history; but, after all, maybe he deserved
+it. And that picture of my company commander! [Worth]. Long, long, have
+I gazed on it. I was only sixteen and a half years old when I joined his
+company at David's Island, Dec. 6th, 1871. Folliot A. Whitney was 1st
+lieutenant and Cyrus Earnest, 2nd. What a fine man Whitney was. A finer
+man nor truer gentleman ever wore a shoulder strap. If he had been
+company commander I'd have re-enlisted and stayed with him. I was always
+afraid of Worth, though he was always good to my brother and myself.
+I deeply regretted Lieut. Whitney's death in Cuba, and I watched Major
+Worth's career in the last war. It nearly broke my heart that I could
+not go. Oh, the rattle of the war drum and the bugle calls and the
+marching troops, it set me crazy, and me not able to take a hand in the
+scrap.
+
+Mrs. Summerhays calls him Wm. T. Worth, isn't it Wm. S. Worth?
+
+The copy I have read was loaned me by Captain Baird; he says it's a
+Christmas gift from General Carter, and I must return it. My poor wife
+has read it with keen interest and says she: "William, I am going to
+have that book for my children," and she'll get it, yea, verily! she
+will.
+
+Well, Colonel, I'm right glad to know that you are still on this side of
+the great divide, and I know that you and Mrs. S. will be glad to hear
+from an old "walk-a-heap" of the 8th.
+
+I am working for a Cumberland newspaper--Lonaconing reporter--and I will
+send you a copy or two of the paper with this. And now, permit me to
+subscribe myself your
+
+Comrade In Arms,
+
+WILLIAM A. GURNETT.
+
+
+
+Dear Mrs. Summerhayes:
+
+Read your book--in fact when I got started I forgot my bedtime (and you
+know how rigid that is) and sat it through.
+
+It has a bully note of the old army--it was all worthwhile--they had
+color, those days.
+
+I say--now suppose you had married a man who kept a drug store--see what
+you would have had and see what you would have missed.
+
+Yours, FREDERIC REMINGTON.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Vanished Arizona, by Martha Summerhayes
+
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