The River Falls times. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1894-1933, 1896-12-22

Capt. Carey's Wife" Answered the
Landlord.
most frozen. When the almost be-
numbed stage driver drove his mules
into the barn and was helped off his
seat, he beayed a sigh of satisfaction
at the idea of a long rest before him.
On that rolte-from Bennington to
Harper City-from Harper City to Coll
vile and Fort Davis, and beyond to
Edgerton-there was no staging 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 woman, an officers
wife bound to Fort Davis, if she could
get through all right; if winter shut
down, then she must stop at Harper
City or Colville until sent for. Two
days after the stage was laid up, and
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 congregated around the big
stove in the bar room
Boys, I'm feeling mighty sorry for
the officers wife. | can't make her
comfortable here, do the best | can,
and it may be a fortnight before any
thing goes over the road in either di-
rection. She's got the pluck to push
through to the Fort if she had half
show"
what dye call half 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 twenty-eight
miles to Davis, and, with this snow on,
that means two days travel Say,
men, before this storm lets up We'll
have snoWdrifts up to your chin! Po-
MES! Why, the drifts will be too big
for an elephant to break through! No,
sir-e-e-e! | wouldn't set out on that
jaunt and agree to pull man through,
let alone a woman, who couldn't turn
a hand over if | 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 it bad at the Fort,
they say, and lots of men are dying
off,
The men about the stove made no
answer The question of pay did not
enter into it. They knew the trail, and
they also knew what winter storm
meant, as the snow fell and the gales
piled it up here and there. The mail
carrier would not start until he could
travel on SnOWShOeS.
"Whos the woman?" asked one of
the men, at last-a youngish man who
appeared the day before coming from
no one knew where nor inquired.
Capt. Carey's wife, answered the
landlord.
The stranger half-rose from his chair
and uttered a curse. and the others
looked at him in surprise.
"She's crying and wringing her
hands and taking on, and Ill put $50
on top o. any sum the captain may
shell out I've told my old woman to
keep an eye on her, or she'll start out
alone. / know it'll be close shave,
but if l was ten years younger I'd see
her through to the Fort"
The stranger said he would talk with
the lady, and two minutes later was iii
her presence. She recognized him on
the instant, and pronounced his name.
He calmly replied that he was Samuel
White, soldier and deserter, and al
though she was the wife of an officer
who had bounded him into breach of
discipline and desertiOn, he stood
ready to offer her his best services in
the emergency She at first declined
his offer, realizing how he must feel,
but he insisted, and the landlord told
her that of all the men about the town
the deserter was the only one who had
dared face the perils of the trip. By
and by she yielded, weeping and sob
bling in her anxieties, and he said:
by the day after tomorrow the
storm will have ceased, and we will
make start"
All that day and all the next the