The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-11-28
Ill

That was a terrible night for the little
girl, and one which she will never
forget, even should she live to be very
Old and have many adventures.
Howard was always delirious when
i'll, and he ROW came cut of his SWoon
only to fight imaginary assaiiants try
to hide his sister from approaching dam
ger, and so rave till morning.
Phyllis was a high-strung, imagina-
tive child. She could not help believ-
ing when Buddy pointed to the dark
that walled the circle of light around
their campfire, and cried deliriously,
See! see! there they come-ten of
thenl-all with rifleS-cOminS TO kill
Phyllis. Somebody hide her-hide her
hide Phyllis, quick!' that the men
really were there.
Yet, though she shuddered, sick with
fear and apprehension, Phyllis never
faltered With cold, shaking fingers
she cut her brothers shirt away from
his wounded shoulder soothing him as
best she could, laying and cleansing
the hurt with the precious water Which
she needs must use freely, but not one
drop of which must be wasted. He
was very thirsty as his fever came up,
and by the time dawn released poor
Phyllis from her most pressing terror
it confronted her with another At
would not hold out more than three
days longer; besides, she could not so
out and slash sotol, and without it the
sheep, too, would soon suffer.
I've got to move this camp, sheep
and ALL Phyllis told herself. with
novel sense of her utterly undivided re-
sponsibility. We must see how far we
can go before it gets hot, for Buddy
can't travel then"
a7--i 10 q
his blanket; the fever had left him so
weak that he could scarcely whisper
No help, not even counsel or direction,
was TO be expected from him; so Phyl-
! lis set about her preparations as eXpe-
ditiously as possible. There was first a
bit Of breakfast to be cooked and eaten,
for she knew she must not let her
strength fail. Then the two ponies to
be caught, the tent to be gotten down
and packed, along with all the belong
ings.
Phyllis never knew certainly just how
she got that tent down. folded and
packed en- Towards pony. She was in
despair i dozen times, and wished that
! q cyclone would come along and carry
it away. But none came, and a look
at poor Buddy's face always gave her
| courage for another trial.
When everything. including the pre-
cious key of water was packed on
Buckshot, Phyllis came to the expert
mental part of her preparations. How
ard was too weak to mount or sit on
horse, even i she were able to make
him understand the necessity for doing
so.
| Phyllis had often seen the Indians
carry their sick in hammocks slung to
q couple Of shaft-like poles behind q
pony. This she purposed Initiating, but
| she dared not trust Buddy's precious
! head behind Buckshot's nimble heels.
| Chiquito was so gentle, she hoped he
would make no objection to the strange
| continuance.
Bringing the two tent poles to where
! Howard lay in his stupor of weakness.
! she turned the edges of his blanket over
| them in q sort of hem, and made it
fast with a sail needle and Irvine,
! brought alonG FOR tent mending. Then,
! putting her brothers saddle on Chi
! quito, she carried q heav- strap
| through the iron eve which vas let
| into the end Of each pole, and around
the saddle girths She started the pony
with fear and trembling, and he did
look uneasily around at the strange
wreckage trailing behind him, but once
| convinced by Phyllis voice and hand.
which he knew and loved that it was
ali right, he trotted along complais-
antly.
The free ends Of the poles trailed
over the level ground, and the ham
mock rocked gently. Phyllis walked
between BUckshot and Chiquito, with a
hand on the bride Of each, and SO
hampcred she attempted, but with little
success, to drive the band of sheep.
which she had already punched before
her
Finally she mounted to her saddle
which she had put on Buckshot, riding
him and leading Chiquito, and matters
went somewhat better. Progress, how
ever, was slow, and she found that she
could not in this way reach the place
in which she hoped to make camp by
noon. There had been a little seep hole
back at the old camp water not fit tc
drink nor cook with, nor enough for tbs
sheep, but it had served for the ponies
and now she must press on and reach
the Three CottonWoods on the edge oil
Antelope divide, or the animals woul6
be giving out from thirst.
So she passed the sheep and left
them, intending to return when she
had established Buddy comfortably un.
der the shade of the cottonwoods How
ever, nobody can count upon ~hat