Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-08-25

spinning off over to-
ward the hill that 1
could see dimly outlired against tie horizon
in the moonlight Then 1 heard a woman's
scream. Long and shrill end full Of agony,
followed by muttered curses and the sound
of blows.
1t was just in the edge Of the evening.
and the sunset glory had scarcely given
way for the full moon riding so majes-
tically up the eastern sky. when 1 was
startled by pistol shots. 1 had been ex-
plo-ing the adjacent hills in company with
the young Lanes most of the afternoon,
and. being tired, had thrown myself on the
bed Immediately after supper, and bad fall
en- asleep. The day before had nearly worn
me out. l have known physicians who
recommended sea voyage for people af-
flicted with a torpid liver, the sea sickness
and general shaking up being considered
particularly beneficial. They do not say
anything about whether passage Is to be
steerage ,r first cabin. l fully believe that
sure cure for torpidty of the liver-and
for life well, If long enough continued
will be found in fifty-mile trip on a board
ing train. 1t is all steerage. l never found
anything as rough in all my travels l
know one woman who always takes out he.
false teeth before essaying a ride on such
train. She says she rs afraid of cracking
the plate.
Mrs. Lane managed to prepare dinner
while the train was moving because she is
used to it, 1 presume, as she tells me
each time 1 exclaim over the. TO me, odd
things that are all the time occurring, but
which did not disturb ner equanimity in
the least. 1 learned something new about
1 wanted n drink of water, and all the
Lanes were in other portions of the train
at that particular moment. / was afraid
to take the hose down I had seen tha
others do, so / pushed a chair up to the
tank and climbed up with lineup in my
hand 1t was Ierilous venture, but by
clingipg to the tank l managed the feat. /
found the wooden water bucket floating
around in the tank. l thought to do Mrs.
Lane n favor, so fished 1t out. l had just
touched the floor with both feet, when an
awful lu-ch of the car sent me hea9lcng
against the iron tank, and at the same
time was drsnched to the skin with about
five gallons of the precious fluid, which
stopped over. Gasping and stunned, l lean
ed against the side of the car to get my
breath, and just then Mrs. Lane came
bustling in.
Dear me! How did you-why, did you
tumble in the Tank" she asked. curously
as she FASTENED to get me a chair ] told
tumbled on ne.
The Safest Place.
1T must have been an awful jerk that
splashed that bucket out" she said rs she
p!1Led It up and tossed Il Il back in the tank.
The car would have been deluged in a few
moments AS calmly as possible, asked
her the philosophy of a bucket in the tank,
and she replied that she used the bucket
because 1t was handy. but that a big fat
board or butter bowl would answer as
welf and that with something Of that kind
In the tank very little water would splash
out. l had learned something though the
Information cost me a Very pretty French
Bingham, ruined by the impromptu shower
bath little later. 1 lifted the lid to look
at the dough that wGs rising SO nicely and
nearly went headlong into the bread trough.
Then / sat down. 1t seemed the safest
thing to do. l was sea sick. and ached in
every bone in my body when that train
IS showed in on a side track. for the
men to cat their dinners, while the con-
ductor waited orders. BY the time we start
ed again, l was rested and as / sat in a
rocking chair in the center Of the kitchen
car with the wide doors on each side push
ed back and Robbie and jimmie Lane close
by, to tell me the points of interest, l be-
gan to enjoy the novelty of the trip. Some
times the rocky canons shut us in till we
could just see the sky above u.s. and then
the valley widened cut, AMI in the desert
of sand green spot would stand out with
a few struggling cottonwoods about it, and
we would know that spring of pure wa
ter gushed UP there.
No painters ralette ever held more va
ried or brighter colors than one sees among
the "painte1 rocks and tall weed flowers
with great heads of bloom just the color
of purple that Mrs. Cleveland so loves to
wear flung their perfume right in our
faces rs the train dashed down the grade
tossing the bending stems rudely apart, as
they nodded together over the roadbed.
At the horiZon's edge there was a broken
chain Of mountains, like the leaves that
there we're volcanoes long ages extinct,
but before their fires Went out the coun-
try was Inundated with black lava, which,
cracked, and fillei with gruesome caverns
is as uacapry a place as the eye Of man
ever rested upon. "A section out of sheol,"
was what Gen. Sherman called these bad
lands" and he seems to have been singu-
larry happy in his selection Of titles.
A Brand-New Town.
After five hours of humping along, va
ried by spasmodic efforts to rescue bits Of
loosened kitchen bric-a-brac from an en-
forced exit at the open doors, and a wild
scramble for young Lanes, whose unsteady
legs led them perilously near the same
danger, the boarding train was sidetracked
in the edge of little place called Ell Dora
do. You won't find 1t on the map; it is too
new. Two months ago 1t mad neither hui
mans nor habitations. And now-well 1t
seems to have omething that answers for
both Some one grub staked an old pros
pector ard one day he came in with a tiny
paper of gold nuggets! He said the hills
were lousy with such! IT was enough:
ard in week FL Doraio was q full
fiedged town, and you could get any .'pisen'
you craved, and play any kind of s. game
There were 10 houses. Houses are not a
necessity in this country; residence in any
place Is only a matter of plelsure--in which
the community seems TO have the largest
say. Tents are plenty good" as the den!-
zens put 1t. And 50 it was 4 town Of tents
from the first. Dust AMI sand hal had
small CHARGE 1T these when we took up
cur residence there. and it locked as calm
and peaceful as a Sunday school picnic
ground, when were showed in on the
"shoo fly among the pines that lowered
above u.s. and We're ranged like green clad
sentinels about among the white tents. The
smile ended when the sun went down.
There had, however, been no overt act of
lawlessness 20 disturb us. until the second
evening, when the four shots broke in on
my SAUNDERS.
AS l sat up in bewljered fear-I had
seen the fash of the powder VIII the last
two shots hurled by-Mrs. Lane came bust
ling in.
The worst is over she said before /
could speak. Don't be frightened
m no I aSlxa wifi