Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1896-12-24

Landlord
most frozen. When the almost be-
numbed stage dri,er drove his mules
into the barn and was helped off his
seat. he heaved a sigh of satisfaction
at the idea of a long rest before him.
On that route-from Bennington TO
Harper City-from Harper City to Coll
vile and Fort Davis, and beyond To
Edgerton-there was no stagin. after
winter set in. Four passengers had
come up on the trip. They had taken
their chances. They might get through
by stage and they might not. One of
the four was a woman, an officers
wife bound to Fort Davis, If she could
get through all right; IL winter shut
down, then she must stop at Harper
City or Colville until sent for. Two
days after the stage was laid up, ard
with two feet OF snow on the ground
and more falling, the landlord of the
Eagle hotel at Harper City said to the
dozen men c~ongregated around the big
stove in the bar Don /:
Boys. I'm feeling mighty sorry for
the officers wife. | can't make her
comfortable here, do the best | can,
and Ii may be a fortnight before any
thing goes ever the road In either di-
rection. She's got the pluck to push
through to the Fort IL she had half n
show"
what dye caH half a show que
ried one of the men.
well, a man about your size and
two ponies would help her through"
'Not this winter. It's twep.y-eignt
miles to Davis, and. with this snow on.
that means two days travel. Say.
rnen, before this storm let's up we'll
hav snowdrifts up to your chin! Po-
nies' Why, the drifts will be too big
for an elephant to break through No,
s~ir-e-e-e. wouldn't set out on that
jaunt and agree TO pull a man through.
let alone n woman, who couldn't turn
a hand over If i got into trouble"
'She's got two kids" resumed the
landlord, land at Bennington, before
the wires were down, she got a DIS
patch that both were down with the
small pox Got ii bad ut the Fort,
they say, and lots of men are dying
Off"
The men about the stove made no
answer. Tbe question of pay did not
enter into II. They knew the trail, ana
they also knew what a winter storm
meant, as the snow fell and the gales
piled it up here and there. The mail
carrier would not start until he couid
travel on snowshoes.
"who's the woman asked one or
the men, at last-a y~1ungish man VINO
appeared the day before, coming from
no one knew where nor inquired.
Capt. Carey's wife," answered the
landlord.
The stranger half-rose from AIS chair
and uttered a curse, and the others
looked at HIN in surprise.
shes crying and wringing her
hands and taking on. and III put So
ON top Of any sum the captain may
shell ont. I've told my old NJ 10
keen an eye on her, or she'll a OUT
alone. know it'll be a close shave.
but II I was ten years younger ID see
her through to the Fort"
The said he would talk with
the lady. and two minutes later was III
her presence. She recognized him ON
the instant. and ~pronOunted Ills name:
He calmly replied that he vas Samuei
White. soldier and deserter. m al
though she was the wife or en- ofncer
WIN had bounded MIN into q breach OF
DISCIPLINE and desertion. he stood
ready TO offer her his best services 10
the emergency. She at first declined
his offer, realizing how he must FEEL:
but he insisted. and the landlord old
nor that of all the men about the town
the deserter was the only one who had
dared face the perils OF the trip. Ivy
and by she yielded. weeping and b
hing In her anxieties. and he said:
.By the day after Tomorrow the
storm viii have ceased. and we VIA
make n start" 49,.
An that day and all the next the
wind continued 10 rage and the $40"