The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1886-09-23

mans ring. when mamma hearing heavy
fall, ran into the hall and found Aunty lying
on the floor i'm a dead faint, with an old yellow
letter crushed in her hand. IL was the one
Capt. Hayne had written while on his way 10
certain death
"A party of prospectors had found the mail
carriers remains in a rayine near the Great
Bend in the Arkansas River and n number OF
arrows lying abo6t showed plainly that be had
been killed by the Indians. The mail pouch
was found some distance away, where II proba-
bly, had been dragged by the wolves and
though il was somewhat torn and quite rotten,
good many Of the letters were still decipher-
able, and such as the address could he made out
We're ar once forwarded 10 their destination.
:" The shock Of getting the letter was almost as
severe as when the news of Capt. Haynes death
was brought home 10 Aunty. ii was short,
there being only few lines, and IL told her no
more than she already knew, but il seemed like
a message from the dead.
"fbe officer who had written OF Capt Hayne' S
death told her that they buried him near where
he fell, and gave an exact description OF
the spot. They were hundreds OF miles from
any place where they could bury him with
military honors, and, being in the enemy s
country, they could do nothing else than bury
him on the spot where he met his death, hoping
at no distant day TO remove the body To Fort
Leavenworih.
After the receipt Of the old letter Aunty be-
came possessed with desire 10 visit the place
where he Law. but il was not till 1873 that she
was able 10 do so. The railroad was then fin
ished far west as Colorado. and in the Fall
OF that year papa took Auniy, mamma and me
Il was just seven years Old-on trip through
Kansas. We stopped ut a little town called
Larned. the nearest point from which TO reach
the place where Capt. Hayne was buried.
+" remember il all just as well as though i
had seen il but yesterday.
His grave was Just three miles from the town,
ON the brow OF high hill rising abruptly from
Pawnee Creek. ON the south, far below US,
was a stretch of low-lying valley, through
which the creek, with its tree-shaded banks,
wound down TO the Arkansas River which
tralled its sinuous length like great yellow
serpent between us and the distant sand hills.
Last through the soft blue haze we could see
the historic elf called Pawnee Rock; TO the
north OF us the prairie lay in long undulating
sweeps Of rich golden brown reaching to the
blue horizon, broken here and there by pictured
lakes and ragged outlines of mountain peaks or
forests, the iieeting, ever-changing mirage
while i'm the west, where the Pawnee found It's
rise in the hlly upland. we could see the Ma
uOnal coOrs boating above a pretty fort OF the
same name as the town We had Just left. VIII
always remember the view as 1 saw IL first, for
though I've been there often since-and there
are many changes-l think Of IL as / saw II
when the sun was just setting and long shad-
ows were beginning TO creep over the valley.
The stone buildings of the fort inclosed a hollow
square, from the center Of which rose the tall
flagstaff on 10 the northwest of the fort, lis
white fence cleaning in the mellow light, lay
the military cemetery. Like a ball of fire sub.
merged in a sea of blue the sun dipped below
the horizon, aud instantly we saw the puH OF
hlHe smoke and heard the boom Of the sunset
gun.
AT our feet sunken and grass grown, lay the
grave Of Aunt Hester's lover; and as the gray
oi the short twilight closed in upon US, oblit-
Grating all shapes. no sounds came 20 our ears,
and we seemed TO be far above the busy world,
alone with the spirits of the past.
Before we left Larned papa bad the remains
Of Capt. Hayne placed in the military cemetery
AT the fort, but in 1875 Fort Larned was aban-
dOned and the cemetery was no longer taken
care of so after we came TO Kansas papa had
the remains brought here, and now they rest
in peace on the hill over there. You have
noticed the monument often, no doubt. It's a
soldier standing at parade rest Aud that is
why IL wounds Aunt Hester so cruelty 10 hear
any one speak lightly of the boys who wore
the blue, and who were mustered out Of life's
battles by the enemy's guns"
As Zilpha finished her story the sound OF the
evening gun at the distant fort came softly Ia
the ears of the little group on the veranda step
who. with teaT-wet eyes and idle hands, Were
thinking Of that grave out on the hill and the
kindred ones that lay on the hilltops aud in
the valleys of every state in the broad Union.
Jessie Lane broke the oppressive quiet by
repeating in her soft sweet way:
AFTER liie's ftful fever they sleep well
nothing can harm them further"