The Portland daily press., 1889-12-28


had never seen girl in gray ulster be-
fore. We went straight to the postoffice,
and were met by the postmaster before
we reached the door. He was a tall,
dark man, with only one eye; dread
fully ugly man, with very dirty face
and still dirtier hands--a wicked looking
man, thought. The conductor greeted
him as if they were old acquaintance.
Seen Col Wynne lately, Hank
"A week aso-came for his mail
This is hi. sister
Mr.. Hank nodded as if he were aware
of the fact, and stared very hard at me
with his one eye.
Isis my brother here?" l ventured
to ask, just for something to say.
"He's at the fort, miss"
"And how far off is THAR
Thirty mile--bee line"
My heart Began to beat at very I'M
comfortable rate A horrible state of
things!
would you kindly advise me what
| to dor
Breakfast" struck in the conductor
| decidedly. you've eat nothing for ten
hours"
Thank you" answered politely. II
am hungry; but want to know how
am to get to Fort Lincoln.
This question was not to be answered
at once. Neither of the men seemed to
hear it, and without further ceremony
ushered me into the house, through one
long room full of men with stove in
the middle of it, a liquor bar, and sew
eral small tables, to a small room behind,
where there were heaps of blankets scat
tered about a rough bedstead, one chair
| and table.
| "Sit down." said the postmaster, point
| ing TO the chair. obeved, feeling very
forlorn and helpless. 1t was dreadful
| position ~ be in. There did not seem to
| be a woman anywhere. l was thirty
miles from my brother, with no visible
| means of reaching him; and this dread
full one eyed man was master of the sit
uation. A whispered colloquy, lasting
several minutes, now took place between
the postmaster and the conductor, after
which the former, whose name l subse-
quently discovered to be Mr.. Hank Wy
brow, turned to me and cleared his throat
as though he were about to address a
| camp meeting.
There's but two things to be done,
| miss, as far as we kin see, and you must
fix on which road suits We best. Kunnel
Wynne don't expect you, reckon, SO
| you'll have to hunt him, or send and git
him to come for yew. l can't poke up
much accommodation here, and there
amt woman nearer than the fort just
now; but if you 'lect to stay I'll fix what
l may tonight and send boy to the
kunnel. If this amt good enough I'll
| see if any one is bound Fort Lincoln way
with wagon to take We there. Think it
out, will We? while dish breakfast, and
let me know your mind in an hour"
This was very fairly said. l thanked
Mr.. Wybrow for his offers and was able
to bid farewell to the conductor, who
had another ten miles to travel, with a
stout heart.
1t did not take me long to make up my
mind cannot say that I relished the
idea of thirty mile drive with stranger,
but while breakfast was in course of
preparation a little incident happened
that made this difficulty seem very
small one. The room was in was lighted
by one square window not far from the
ground, and after the postmaster had
left the room saw three pairs of eyes,
belonging to the rough faces Of some Of
the men had seen on the platform, star
ing fixedly at me. They disappeared
with great quickness when they saw
that / was aware of their scrutiny; but
the feeling of being watched was very
unpleasant, and felt that would not
pass night at Santana on any account.
Mr.. Wybrow appeared relieved when
told him this, and when he brought up
breakfast introduced man who owned
a wagon, and guaranteed to arrive at
Fort Lincoln before shutdown.
can see the fellow now, though it is
ten years since that day. A very thin
man, of middle height, dressed in neat,
brown canvas clothes. His hair was
very smooth, parted in the middle and
carried back behind his ears as tightly
as if it were bound with rope. He had
a small, round head, fiat nose, brown
eyes, rather dull and expressionless, very
high cheek bones and thick lips. An
ugly man, yet quiet and modest in man.
ner and speech, with soft, well modu-
lated voice. He was inclined to be bald,
stopped in his gait, and seemed rather
stupid and altogether Insignificant kind
of person. A doctor of medicine"
he called himself, and added with some
dignity that he was "friend of Col.
Wynne's."
trusted him. His quiet voice was
relief after the harsh speech of Mr..
Wybrow, and my one object in life just
then was to get away from those horrible
staring eyes. In less than an hour was
by his side jolting along the Fort Lincoln
road behind stout team of mules.
cannot remember now how far we
went before began to feel nervous and
uncomfortable. I know that it was
long way, for remember congratulating
myself upon having left Santana, be-
cause my companion told me that the
safe postmaster had been murdered by
cowboys week or two ago-and this
was doubtless how my letter miscarried
and that the station was known to be
one of the worst haunts for rowdies in
the county. But the time came at length
when he fell quite silent, and l then
found that whenever I turned my head
to view the prairie about us his eyes
rested upon my face. Oh, how terrible
it was! edged away from him to the
farthest corner of the seat, and felt more
and more helpless and unnerved every
moment. The suspense did not last long.
When he perceived my fears he boldly
raised his eyes and looked at me with
smile of the most horrible kind. Then
he laughed softly a dry, hard laugh. 1
tried to speak now, but my throat was
dry and parched, and my tongue seemed
paralyzed. He laughed again, louder,
and, stopping quickly, pulled up the
mules with jerk. l knew what was
coming now, and, before he could touch
me, sprang from the wagon. He fol-
lowed me with the swift, silent move
ment Of snake, and as turned to meet
him, for could not run, he laughed for
the third time The sound reused me.
tried to seize his throat with both hands.
l felt that ! could kill him for that laugh.
But, oh! the weakness of a woman!
Why are we not as strong as men? He
caught my wrists in his hard, brown
fingers. NV arms were forced hack now