Beverly banner. [volume] (Beverly, N.J.) 1877-1964, 1890-06-21
Love Born Amid Dangers.

w " An
should have sent for his daughter
Ethel, to join him in camp on the Rio
Grande, where he was hard at work as
a contractor on the Sunset extension
of the Southern Pacific railroad (; but
he did, and when the fact became
known, the captain of the Ranger COM
pany at Vaudeville detailed three of
his best men to escort the young lady
from the "end of the track" at Del Rio
to her fathers camp.
Renegade Indians from Mexico
Tonkawas, Lipans, Comanches, Kio-
was, Kickapoos and some few Mes
calero Apaches, the remnant of Vic
toria's band-had been making occa-
SIGNAL predatory raids upon the camps
of the contractors from the time they
had crossed the Pecos river and en-
tered upon the heavy work that makes
this portion of the Southern Pacific
road so grandly picturesque.
These thieving Indians would dash
across the river in the dark of the
moon, steal all the horses and mules
they could conveniently drive, and be
back again across the river before the
Rangers could be notified and a scout
ordered out to pursue the rascals.
The Mexican Rangers, or s~urales,
were never on hand when these raids
took place, and the Indians, embold-
ened by success in escaping capture or
battle even, attacked travellers going to
and from the construction camp.
This fact more than any other in
duced the Ranger captain to tender an
escort to his friend, Captain Wood, and
when Miss Ethel, barely II, and fresh
from an eastern boarding school,
alighted from the train at Del Rio,' she
was considerably surprised, and not a
little alarmed, at being greeted by a
tall, handsomely %proportioned man,
with a dropping mustache and dark
eyes, who was clad in the picturesque
garb of the Ranger service, booted,
spurred and girdled with a cartridge
belt, from which depended a scabbard
containing an iv~ory-handled six shoot
er.
"You are Miss Ethel Wood?" in
luired the stranger.
dyes !" faltered the maiden, shrink
ing back at sight of his pistol and
Winchester rifle.
II am Corporal Nick Brown, of the
Texas Rangers" continued the bar
barously accourtered young man, lift
ing his sombrero, politely, and with a
new light in his eyes at sight of Ethel's
wonderous beauty. "The captain sent
me and my men down to escort you to
your fathers's camp, which, if we travel
by ambulance, is a good two days
march from here. If you could ride
horseback, though" he continued, "and
we made an early start tomorrow, we
might make it by night"
81 just dote on horseback riding"
answered Ethel, and her cheeks grew
roster with anticipation. "At school l
was considered an excellent horsewo-
man. I am just wild to gallop over one
of your broad prairies-"
ave have no prairies out here"
corrected the corporal. Our course
lies across an arid alkali plain"
AT this Ethel laughed, and confessed
that she was only an ignorant girl from
"the States"
She had caught the latter expression
from her fathers letters.
The corporal laughed also at her
n%aivete, and they instantly became good
friends.
1t was early in the afternoon, and
securing accommodations for Ethel at
the Sunset hotel, an edifice part adobe,
part wood and part stone, with a can
vas roof, he went into camp" with his
own little squad, purchased fodder and
corr for the horses, and took such an
interest in securing comfort for Ethel
that the latter dreamed of him all
night, and when the Mexican girl who
was the general factum of the Sunset.
called her, while the night shadows
still chung to the earth, she arose with
out a murmur, although ordinarily she
loved to lie in bed late in the morning
AT early dawn the party was in the
saddle, and trotted off up the govern
ment road to the Pecos and beyond.
As commander of the scout Corpora
Brown rode beside Ethel, while the es
cort and the single pack mule followed
close behind.
They we're five all told, and as Their
had been no Indian depreciation lately
committed, Corporal Brown felt re
markably sure of turning Miss Ethe
over to her father without accident.
In his secret heart, however, h
wished hal the Indians might attacl
them not that he wanted to jeopardiz'
his fair charges safety, but simply t.
show her how Rangers could fight.
They camped for dinner at Moxon'
Springs, and Corporal Brown begal
to regret that the journey would sool
be over.
1t was 5 o'clock in the Afternoon
when they crossed the Pecos at Dea'
Steer ford, and there we're still twelv
miles of rough riding before them.
The horses were jaded, and when tn
corporal ordered a gallop, and set tn