The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1892-07-24

,bo swift and sure fooled little animals
| to the landing.
There all was excitement. The Polar
Star was already being made fast 10 the
hinge cottonwood stumps that hung over
Tho water. She was loaded down so
That the water had washed her deck and
sides q grimy mud color. Her mixed
and indescribable freight was piled high
ON every side in anything but shipshape.
Her Messengers were all crowded for
ward anxious 10 get ashore, and their
faces were Of every color and type.
Miners. soldiers, Yankees, traders, gam
blers. adventurers, negroes, army OIL
GERS. emigrants and a few women came
over the gang plank In motley process
sion. Greetings were exchanged by
Some with men in the crowd on the
hank: others stood aside and looked on,
stretching themselves as If just re-
leased from cramped position, and
then looking about for the settlement:
Many Of the passengers Of the Polar
Star chose to walk out to Westport; some
hired Mexican ponies and mounted them
cautiously, having heard OF the bucklng
broncho afar off; others took passage IN
the schooner" drawn by six creeping
oxen. and all started over the hills TO the
trading post, except those who were 10
helm unload the cargo and bring up the
supplies for WestpOrt-
The Mexican buyers ordered the wagon
trains down in haste, the boats long de-
Law making them impatient to start out
The captain had been ordered to wait for
United States troops bound to Fort
Leavenworth; then the Polar Star had
grounded on q sand bar when she was
six DAYS out from st. Louis; her supply
of fuel at certain landing was not
ready, and she was obliged to wait while
cord wood from three miles inland was
hauled to her One detention after an
other, together with her heavy cargo,
made her trip slow one, but no serious
accident had befallen her and the freight
for the overland trains was landed in
good condition.
AS the struggling procession was
about 10 start up the hill the captain Of
the Polar Star noticed woman stand
ing alone and looking in dazed and
frightened way, first at the boat and
then at the caravan. He remembered
her well, for, to use the phrase of his
own thoughts, he had "had his eye on
her. throughout the voyage from st.
Louis,
She had come aboard late at that city
with her passage paid TO Westport Land
ing. There, she had afterward explained,
she would be mot by friend. Being a
quiet, modest, plain little body, the Off
GERS wives who were aboard the boat
took kindly to her and befriended her
throughout the trip. They were some
what curious, TO be sure, concerning the
friend" who would meet her; very rea-
sonabiy, too, since it was IN almost I'M
heard of and certainly venturesome
thing for a woman to start up country
on Missouri river steamboat in those
early days. But her manner, and per
hape what she did not say more than
anything she said, prevented close in
quiry. The wife of a captain Of artil-
lery, who ranked" all the Others, gave
it out as her opinion that one of two
things must be the true explanation.
Either the lone woman had been de-
serted by her husband and was not quite
sure that he would keep his promise to
meet her at Westport Landing, or she
expected to join an old lover and be
married there.
More than once, when the woman sat
on the deck Of the Polar Star and gazed
across the muddy waters of the river
into the young cottonwood groves be-
yond, pathetic look crept into her face
that warranted the first theory. Again
a trustful hope would shine through her
gray eyes and convince her new friends
of the latter explanation.
The captains attention had been espe-
cially attracted to her by little scene
Of which he believed himself to be the
only witness. Soon after she came aboard
his boat at St. Louis, and while he was
watching her with some suspicion and
wondering that a woman Of her appear
ance should start upon such a journey
alone, he saw her face grow suddenly
white. They were both well forward at
the time, but the woman was walking
toward the stern of the vessel, and it was
evident TO the captain that she was star
tied by something she saw there amid the
crowd of sengers-deckhand and
soldiers-an engaged in asserting and
arranging the stacks Of freight and lug
gage. This keen observer of strange
people turned quickly and looked in the
same direction with the woman's eyes,
but he could not determine what it was
that had caused the hs&od to leave her
face. She made no attempt at conceal
ment and was plainly in no way dis
guised. OF these things the old captain
made mental note and then wisely de-
cided to bide his time.
But as the voyage progressed and the
woman gave no sign, the captain was
puzzled. He said to himself: "She knows
where she Is going and what she is
about and she intends to keep her own
counsel. It's wonderful what quiet bit
Of woman will undertake when she
makes up her mind to it. Her courage
is like the patient mans anger when at
last aroused" And the old captain
sighed long, deep sigh and kept his own
counsel.
Although he, too, had been curious
~