The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1870-03-19
turning calls shorten the hours till "tattoo"

of officers, had suecumbed to its insidious at
| tacks before the summer was half spent. The
| Colonel, too, was falling victim to it: and
the Post Commander giving the Colonel per.
| mission to leave the camp in quest of health
we concluded to return the visit of the la.
dies at the next post. My plan, to make the
| UP on horseback; the captain, as command
ing officer, could not leave the post flor there
was no officer well enough to take his place)
the Colonels senior Lieutenant was already
IN the camp whittier we were going. on bust
ness, and the junior, with all his songs, and
laughter, and gayety, was brought very near
to deaths door by the fever.
When the time came l mounted Black
Prince, and found the Captain, on his iron
gray by my side. The Colonel and his wife
occupied the ambulance, and the Captain
rode with us some five or six miles. My side
saddle contained a pocket large enough to
hold pistol; and the Captain had sent me a
derrlnger, on the previous day, to carry in it
as ne did not consider my undertaking quite
SAFE, though we had ten cavalry men as es
cort. On the point of taking leave from us
the captain ordered three of the men to ride
close behind me and then turned to ask:
Are you sure you have that pistol with
| you now?"
"Why, certainly, Captain" said L; sit is in
IN my trayelling-bag, in the bottom of the
/
"Just like woman" he was impolite
enough to say. Of the Indians come, Of
| course they'll give you time to go to the am
buiance, to hunt up your valise, and find your
pistol"
An indignant reply rose to my lips, but the
next moment pity took the place of indigna-
ton; the poor man was bachelor. And I
then and there formed the Christian resolu-
ton to Introduce him to all the pretty girls of
my acquaintance, in San Jose, Alameda and
San Francisco, the very next time he came
to California on furlough.
believe, to this day, that the Captain
threw an evil eye after us when we parted.
or used some other spell to bring the Apaches
on us, to punish me for acting "just like a
woman = for when we approached the point
OF a range OF low hills, rising out of the valley
we. were traversiug, the Corporal in command
OF the escort suddenly halted the train, and
iode up to the ambulance. /, too, rode up,
Just In time to hear the Corporal report to the
Colonel that he had seen the head of an In
dian, peering over the edge of the hill mo-
ment ago.
Inc more TOOL you are, then, for hating,
and giving them a chance to cut us DOWN.
said the Colonel, angrily "Tell the men to
look to their arms. Ride close beside the
ambulance" he said to me hastily; "there is
no time to dismount now. See-there thew
come" 'N'
around the sharp corner dashed the wild,
nofIlDly painted figures of some fifteen or
twenty Apaches, mounted on little, feet. shay
~ ponies, yelling like so many devils; and
leaning far over their horses sides, they aim
ed their arrows at us, while following the
curve OF the road that brought them directly
on US. They had evidently not expected the
ready fire that received them, for their horses
sWerved from the road. Passing to the right
| OF us, they galloped on, shrieking and yelling,
till they were far in the rear of us; and then,
without a moments hesitation or consulta-
| ton, they abruptly turned, and charged on us
once more. But the Colonel had already
| given his orders.
whip up your mules" he called to the dri-
yer, land let your horse have his head" He
continued to me, "Keep close by the ambu-
lance, and the men will cover our retreat"
we soon left the men behind, for we were
on open ground, and had no ambush to fear.
once IN awhile stray arrow would reach us
whlzzlng through the air, and frightening the
ANIMALS into greater speed; but the soldiers
following us at just sufficient distance to pre-
vent the Indians separating the ambulance
from the escort-received the "brunt of the
battle" on their devoted heads. had no need
10 guide Black Prince; he understood the sit
uatlon as well as we did. So could turn.
from time to time, to cast hasty look on the
confused scene behind me.
Inc Colonel was by no means idle: and
once, When some of the bravest "brayes" had
almost succeeded in cutting us off from the
escort, anu surrounding us, it was his revolver
| tnat sent the balls which made some of the
ping BOW ana arrow rom ther st Rfs2GR efRP
| gers. l had often heard it said that the In
dian warriors, when going forth to fight, were
fastened to their horses in such manner
that, even though they received their death
| wound, the enemy never saw them fall 1t
must have been so in this case; for though
| the men had counted five of them, Keeling,
| and CHASTITY through all their paint, not one
had fallen to fthe ground. But they did not
again attempt to cut us off from the escort.
The soldiers drew closer to the ambulance
and though some of the Indians followed us
for miles, probably in the hope that the one
mule which had been badly wounded would
give out, and leave us to their mercy, we wore
out their patience at last, and reached the
camp just in time to save the mule from dy-
ing on the road.
Of course, neither the men nor the horses
had come off unscathed; but as no scalps had
been taken by the Indians, the men regarded
the attack as rather pleasant little episode,
| particularly as it made heroes of them duriIo
their stay in the camp.
| Quarters were not more plentiful here, than
they We're at our post; so it was decided that
we four ladies should take possession of the
MAJORS quarters, while the conference.-the
Colonel, and his senior Lieutenant. and the
Major-were to occupy the quarters of the
MAJORS Lieutenant, who was also the Quar-
termaster OF the post. The Colonel's senior
Lieutenant was Quartermaster at our post
and his stay here was connected with some
Quartermaster transactions. When tea was
over, the gentlemen adjourned to the Lieu
tenants quarters. opposite the parade ground,
and some distance of. A long while we wait,
ed for their return, as they had promised to
to come back to say goodnight; and when
tattoo was gone, and "taps" were sounded, we
retired for the night, half expecting to hear
| the gentlemen's knock on the only door the
house contained, sometime before we fell
asleep; but we slept without being disturbed.
In the morning the Colonels wife expressed
her surprise that the Colonel had gone to bed
without bidding her goodnight; the Majors
wife betrayed her indignation, and the Lieu
tenants wife-but recently married-said
such thing had never happened to her be-
lore. Nine O'Clock came, and with it the
Colonel
"What had kept him away last evening ?,
his wife asked.
| 10, the Post QuartermaSter had had some
very difficult papers to make out-had his
| quarterly accounts to send in, so they had
helped him till eleven o'clock, and then went
to bed"
| Ten o'clock brought the Major.
why had he not returned last night?"
70, the Post Quartermaster had had some
| very difficult papers 10 make out; it was NO
more than their duty to help him so they all
sat up till twelve o'clock making out accounts
and then went to bed"
Eleven O'Clock came, and with it the Col.
onePs senior Lieutenant.
was it right to neglect the ladies', as lie
had done last night?"
swell, no but the Post Quartermaster had
had some very difficult papers to make out; ii
was no more than fair that they should help
nm: SO they had all sat up with him till two
o'clock ana then it was certainly too late to
Dld the ladies' goodnight"
The Post Quartermaster himself failed to
put In an appearance altogether; and when
ms Wlle visited their quarters, late in the af-
| sernoon, she found him in bed, with an ex-
cruciating headache. So we ali came to the
conclusion that those Quartermaster papers
must nave been very difficult indeed to make
out. ASe' " i'"Ao
"A dafk rumor reached our ears Soma xvepl,s
later-whlch, however, we utterly refused IN
believe. The soldier on duty as orderly. while
we were at the camp, was reported to ba ve
said, that, on the morning following the dav of
our arrival there, the floor of the Slttle hack
room" at the suffers had been thickly strewn
with playing-cards, cigar-stumps, and empty
champagne bottles. We never could quite ac-
count for this singular phenomenon: the sol.