Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1897-03-25
A SISTER.
nv GwENDOLEN OvERTON.


Dut to visit them, and the rest goes by it
self.
Mrs. Lurrilard had an unmarried sis
ter. She was very attractive. She was
far more attractive than Mrs. Lorrilard
ever could have been. The girls name
was Spencer-May Spencer. She was
18 years old, if you took her word for
IT; and she was blond and pink and
white and plump. She came from
como place in Ohio, and she visited the
Lorrilards at Stanton-which is in New
Mexico, 100 miles from the railroad,
,across Dead Mans valley (there is al
ways Dead Mans Valley and some
steep hills and a lava bed a mile wide
1t you have never seen a lava bed, YOU
cannot appreciate that. You might try
TO imagine this ocean dashed into fury
6y a simeon, then fancy its great waves
and pillows and swells changed sud-
denly to dark gray-brown stone at the
height of the storm, and you may form
II vague idea of what the lava bed be-
tween Fort Stanton and the railroad is
like.
1t frightened Miss Spencer badly.
The ambulance went slipping, and slid
ing, and coasting, and humping, and
bounding over the one passablc part,
An way that only an ambulance con-
Quoted by driver who has spent his life
on Arizona and New Mexico roads could
possibly stand. II put all the laws of
'ccntripetal force and of equilibrium at
namght. 1t and the four mules were
laws unto themselves.
Miss Spencer was not accustomed to
that sort of thing. She stood it as long
as she could, and then she told Mai.
1soche-in whose charge she was travel
ins-thatshemeantto get out and walk.
She had bothered the major good deal
already, and he was getting tired, so
he did not say anything, but simply
told the driver to ''slow up and let Miss
Spencer get out by herself.
She fell behind after a moment, and
the ambulance went relentlessly on,
creaking, Tapping its canvas, clanking
its chains, its brake screeching shrilly.
And as it disappeared, sometimes lost to
sight in great hollow, sometimes toll
Ing up smooth face of lava, Miss Spen-
Ger felt herself abandoned, indeed, in
a New Mexico desert under that terrible
midsummer sun. The heat was fiery,
searching, parching. The sky was like
hot blue glass. She wondered why,
when the lava was hot enough to burn
her feet through the soles of her shoes,
1t did not melt or grow soft. She kept
on walking because she was afraid to
step. Twice she slipped and fell and
cut her hands. Under the porous.
piled-up rock, rabbits and owls and
quail were hidden; there were snakes.
too, and lizards. At first she was
frightened when they scurricd by her.
but soon, with her head ringing and
yaner eyes dazed with congested blood
and her mouth open and as dry as flour,
size did not even notice them.
She reached the end of the huge rock
river at last, and found the ambulance
waiting. The driver was asleep, and
the major was drinking beer. He of
fered her some, and when she had drunk
1t she held out her broad little foot.
My shoes are all cut to pieces, and
they were new and awfuily heavy"
"You should have kept STILL" he an
swered.
Now, Miss Spencer wanted sympathy,
and when she didn't get it she took dis
like to the major; and because she dis
liked him, she eventually made him
sorry.
For the first fortnight of her visit she
was not pretty. She was sunburned
from her passage of the lava sea. Her
face was red and swollen, then blotchy,
and lastly peely. After that she re-
turned to the normal pink and white
She was the only girl at the post, and
there was a bachelor, a brevet bachelor,
a young contract surgeon, and Mai.
Roche's son. The bachelor officer was
6tudious-the kind that have much faith
and think that the great fathers in
Washington will reward lieutenants
who pass high exams. and have ideas on
indians. He had no time for young
women. He paid his one call and re-
tired. The brevet bachelor is peculiar
to the service. His wife is back east,
visiting her family. He differs from the
real article only in that he is ineligible.
He was devoted to Miss Spencer, but
he did not count. There was also the
contract surgeon. Of course, he was
only contract surgeon. Still, he was
tall and blond and had a beguiling
southern drawl. He fell in love with
Miss Spencer.
But the exciting part of the story
hinges on Maj. Roche's son. He was 90,
but he was of no use on earth. He was
just a boy, and never would be anything
more. He had failed in everything he
had ever undertaken. He couldn't even
dance, and he was afraid of three-foot
aacequia when he rode. He depended
on his papa for everything, and he
thought he knew women through and
through. Providence sent Miss Spen-
Ger to show him that he didn't--but
the ways of Providence are inscrutable,
and can't be sure.
Well, the con tract surgeon fell in love
with Miss Spencer, but, like Viola, he
never told his love. Now, as the bach
hi,lJo,, L.,