Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-06-20

somewhat unusual excitement SQuaw ladies,
Indian gentlemen, artistioally bare babies,
dime museum dogs, all scanned Interested
over something. We soon learned that q
young traveller, white man, while trying to
ride q pony which he was trading for, had
been thrown and kicked by the unbroken
colt, and was lying In state of unconscious
ness His arm was evidently broken, and
from the condition Of his clothing he had
evidently been roughly handled by the ponys
feet Vitas warm sympathies were touched
by his pallid, suffering face, and she imnaedi-
ately arranged to have him conveyed to her
home
Weeks passed These weeks were the bust
est ever experienced in my checkered career.
From morning till night, and, In fact, often
through che entire night, 1 WIS in constant
motion. Some one had to watch the sick
man continually, and / was generally re-
CURED to fan his fevered brow, and usually
was in Vitas hand; but Of all this be was
unconscious, not having been In bis right
mind one moment since his accident.
One morning he quietly opensd his eyes,
and it almost made me rattle to see the
change it made In his face, and IN that sec
ond there WIS mutual recognition With
out a word he grasped at ne-ah, what a
food of tender recoHections l brought back
to hnni-and great was Vita's establishment
as he pressed me to his lips, and his first
words were to ask how l came there Then
she, ia amazeuent at bis demonstrations,
explained that had been sent to her by
cousin IN New York. He, with that charac-
teristic thoughtfulness SO prominentin man
kind, without stopping to express word Of
gratitude to t,Ie patient, worn face that for
weeks had tended him so faithfully-he, weak
as he was, attempted to dictate letter-and
such letter, fairly glowing with love and un-
dying affection-to her, my former owner;
and poor Vita had to write it all while he was
clasping me to his heart. Yes, mel whom
formerly he had so despised. Well, I too,
releuted. It is-so delightful TO meet an old
acquaintance who has been as unfortunate
as ones self
By his dictation I learned that the note
from him which | had concealed for forty
eight hours was Of such tender character
that he, receiving no reply, took silence for q
dismissal, and suddenly, as we had learned,
buried himself in the whirlpool OF frontier
excitement.
AfDer this letter was mailed he began
counting the days that must pass before he
could hope for a reply, and as he grew
stronger he'd sit up in bed and talk for hours
of her to poor Vita Finally, as his health
returned, they took long rides together
through the romantic paths on the reserva-
ton; they attended Indian dances, collected
bead work and carved pipes; at other times
whole days were passed on the lake. under
the impression that they were fishing.
And thus weeks few by and the letter
never came. Yes, they still talked Of it; it
was impossible to drop the subject entirely,
he had said SO much the first few days, but to
me it was almost amusing to notice that
whenever the expected letter was now men,
toned, what a far away sound their voices
had, and then their voices would fall upon
them with q great, heavy thud.
| soon saw as time went on that he dreaded
mail day, and what look Of relief would
mount his features when the mail arrived
without bringing the expected and now
dreaded letter. And Vita-weil, it was evil
dent she took care not TO be present on the
arrival OF the stage
No matter how animated q conversation
they might be engaged in, just let any one
casually refer to the postofice, and how the
light seemed to fade-how dark and gloomy
everything suddenly appeared. Even I
felt it.
It was sunset-such sunset as you can see
in Dakota only. They were seated on the
rugged edge of homo made hammock, their
hands were rather mixed and their eyes
well, their eyes were not on the sunset, nor
on the road, where neighbor was rapidly
approaching with a letter in his hand. The
first notice they had Of his presence was
when the letter was tossed to him. 1t was
too late for Vita to escape this time; she had
TO sit there and sec his trembling hands tear
the oaveiope-a worn, redirected, much post
marked envelope. Evidently it had followed
him from place to place for weeks.
How unconsoiously she crushed me in her
hand, as her frightened eyes watched the
letter as 1t gradually appeared I think
read it flrst or at least realized its full mean
ing before they did. 1t was simply the we'd
ding card Of my former owner. She had
married ller gallant rescuer, the captain.
When had recovered from my surprise
sufficiently to look at my companions, they
-well-to an unprejudiced observer it looked
ns If Visa's arms were around his neck, and
to q well trained ear it sounded as If he had
kissed somebody-Demorest's Monthly.