Cottonwood report. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1893-1901, 1893-12-08

with its narrow streets and low, leaf
matched houses, rudely and weakly built,
but having some show of neatness on the
inside. All the buildings seemed alike,
and there were no stores or big signs of
hotels or restaurants. The dusky, half
savage people stared coldly at me, and
made me feel more alone than ever. wan
dered along, hoping to see a familiar sign
Of some sort. at least some show of a de-
cent nights lodging and a good square
meal The tough looking guides on the
other side of the mountains had robbed ME
Of most of my money, but / had little
left. Yet it was growing dusk and did
not know what to do, for could not speak
the ordinary patois of the people to make
any inquiries.
cat last, however, my happy eyes saw
the Spanish word for Restaurant printed
on slip of white paper with lead pencil
and stuck in glass window. Without
ceremony | entered. There was n large
room of rough, plain boards, and in the
middle of it one long table covered with a
white cloth. At first I thought there was
10 one present. But as grew used to the
faint light made out the form Of girl
sitting ut the farther end of the table, with
her head buried in her arms. gave a loud
grunt to attract her attention, and she
quickly raised her head. AS we'll as I could
see ! thought she was good looking and
young woman. vaguely felt happy and
wondered what language she spoke. AS
resolved in my mind the possible methods
Of finding this out and was about to begin
with English and try all knew. picked
up an earthen plate, and as toyed with it
on the table in my youthful embarrass-
ment, accidentally let it fall to the floor,
where it broke in several pieces, much to
my establishment. At this the girl started
quickly to her feet in little fright, ex-
claiming very distinctly;
"'GraciousP
$50 she was English. In my delight at
the discovery forgot all about the plate,
but stepped quickly forward and took her
hand, not quite without embarrassment,
and explained, as briefly as could, who l
was and what | wanted. You may be sure
she was as delighted to see me as to see
her. For whole year the only kindred
face she had seen was her fathers and
that, she remarked, was covered with a
shaggy beard. She confessed that when
came in she was shedding few tears of
homesickness herself, and wondering if no
friend would come to her, or if her father
could not be persuaded to take her back to
Cuba, where her home had been.
"Ithink was never happier in my life
than was that night. We two seemed to
have come to each other at just the mo-
ment that each was most welcome, and we
found our thoughts SO alike and our tastes
so congenial that we sat and talked a full
hour before my hungry stomach even had
chance to assert itself. You may be sure
was well served with a good supper, as hot
and steaming and dainty as an English
girl could make it. Then when we had
spent another hour in eating it and chat
ting over it, and | had helped clear the
dishes away and wash them, and my friend
had decided to let the sweeping go until
the morning. because | must start early,
the old father, n bluff, taciturn man, came
in and Joined the conversation with u.s.
and ! quite forgot my WEAKNESS until it
was very late.
MY new found friend, the old gentle
man, was person of some authority in the
place, and offered to provide ME with an
escort of twelve mounted men to Buenos
Ayres, which was some 900 miles across
open plains where two hostile tribes were
at war. Each tribe had a cockade as a
badge-one of red, the other of white. By
having both of these sorts of cockades in
our pockets and dexterously pulling out
the right one when company of armed
men approached us we hoped to pass all
lines safely, and the event proved happy,
though we had some narrow escapes.
when l was ready to start in the morn
ing I suddenly, half jokingly, asked the
young woman to whom had become much
attached in a single evening to accompany
me as far as her old home in Cuba, and l
promised her father to take good care of
her. Somewhat to the establishment of us
all, that of the young woman not the least,
she took the notion of begging her father
to let her accept my offer, and he finally
consented.
1--WE were just in the nick of time at
Buenos Ayres to head off the runaway
ship. The captain had taken out his pa
pers already when we arrived, and was
planning to sail the next morning. But
he and all his mates were quietly arrested
while still on shore, and myself took com
mand of the vessel, shipped a new crew
and with my newly discovered treasure
from the heart of the desert, sailed for the
West Indies, where spent happy month
at the young lady's home in Cuba
ut is needless to say that she became
Mrs Farlow, and you are quite we'll
enough acquainted with her to excuse me
from expatiating further upon her beauty
and other attractive qualities. "A. S..
Cody in Boston Transcript.