Daily Yellowstone journal., 1889-08-14
Next day came Tom with startling

N'NN ~ hiAA avn q oNtht tlitl
news; he was ordered at once TO Fort
Shilling; the garrison there was need
ed in a struggle with the Indians;
fresh troops must man the fort; there
was not a day TO spare.
"Viva, will you go with met"
She sprang up from the sofa where
she lay, pale and sweet, after her way
of escape from DIR. Sands.
"Yes, indeed, will. You shall not
leave me again, Tom"
So the next morning early, like a
pair of clipping lovers, they were mar
ried in the nearest church, and took
the morning train for the far west; on
and on the rushing wheels bore them;
day after day they endured the separa-
ton of the crowd, till at last they ar
rived mt ST. George one winter night
in January, The snow was deep. but
Tom must report rs soon as possible,
and Viva would not let him 60 alone.
1T is too cold, dearest" lie said.
Not with you, Tom"
Forty below zero, Niya!'
IF you cal live in it, / can. Il
promise, Tom"
He could not refuse her after that
word with all its memories. Rolled
in furs, wells, scarfs, with hot bricks
ut her feet, they set out on their TWEEN
ty mile journey. Warned not to speak,
for the air vas not fit for their lungs
to admit i'll all It's chill, silently they
sped along. The glittering fields of
sparkling snow, on which the moon
made a long wake Of glory, the black
shadows, the creak of their swift run
ners, the snorting of the horses, whose
nostrils were hung with ~icicles, all
aided a strange terror to the drive, a
drive that seemed endless, but at last
il was over.
"Come!" said Tom, holding out his
arms as the driver drew up before the
officers quarters, where the light of a
fire blazed through the deep frosted
windows, but Viva neither spoke nor
moved.
Mad with terror, Tom lifted her from
the sleigh and rushed into the door,
making his way by instinct to the fire.
Viva stirred not an atom. Hasty
hands unrobed her, kind hands laid
her on the sofa. Her face was set and
white, her lips parted, her eyes glazed.
The post surgeon hurried in; he lifted
one hand, it fell back; he put a finger
on her pulse. my God! she is deadr
he said, with a look of dreadful pity.
Tom dropped beside her.
Was il a year, Was il a lifetimei
Was he in heaven when he awoke out
of THAR
She was there, warm. sweet, rosy.
You made me promise, Tom; | did
not die"
Tom turned on his face and wept
like a very child; his heaven had come
on earth.
Post surgeons do not know every
thing, any more than any other man.
The fact was that Viva had developed
in the last two years a tendency to
catalepsy-the result of an overworn
and o~verexcited V system, and
when DIR. Sands told her she must tell
Tom about it, she had Just come out
OF a serious attack wherein she had
lain for hours, IS n dead; but she
would not tell him, having an idle
fear that Tom might cease to love her.
The long journey and the cold drive
had brought on a severe seizure, and
she certainly, in appearance, justified
the pos~t-surgeon's opinion; but before
morning she had come back TO herself
and was heartbroken to find Tom de- '
with grief. and as unconscious
Of her presence as shs had been of his.
Viva" he said, a few days after
they were fairly settled in the new
life, my darlingl my wife! think
what might have happened if | had
never known about this. Promise me,
Viva, hereafter TO trust me. Tell me
everything
She looked up in his troubled, ten
der face with a divine smile, and softly
said over his talisman, Il promise" ~
Rose Terry Cooke in True Flag.