Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1898-01-21
CHAPTER II.

CHAPTER ii.
kept his counsel and thereafter made
a practice of riding out to his jacale
once or twice a week.
He always welcomed me as if glad to
see me, and think he really came to
like me- But | made no advance in his
confidence The smallest allusion to the
past turned him cold and stern i'll an i'll
slant | gathered from his talk that he
had once been well to do, had occupied
some station in the world ana was not
ignorant of the customs of good society.
But beyond that l could not lead him by
my most cautious and skillful diplo-
macy.
Once indeed | caught glimpse of his
secret though so vague that it revealed
nothing, through an outbreak of passion
which really deepened the mystery.
had been pressing him to give up
his unsocial habits and to visit the post
We had small contingent Of ladies
there, | told him, wives and relatives of
the officers, who would be pleased to
add him to the number Of their friends
He smiled but shook his head in his
obstinate way.
Come, now" l said persuasively
"You will find yourself a favorito, as
sure You. Besides, we have just insti-
tuted a tennis club, and you would be
exactly the man
l stopped short, literally appalled, by
the change i'll his features. His face be-
came livid, he started to his feet and
stared at me with an expression of min
gled rage and misery.
'Tennis!" he rather shrieked than
said lyon invite me to take part in
that internal pastime, which has made
me what | am, an outcast, homeless
wanderer on the face of the earth, which
has deprived me of everything | held
dear on earth!'
But tennis! l replied in utter
amazement. Surely so innocent and
harmless an amusement
Innocent! Harmless" he repeated
"Man, it has made me Il criminal worse
than murderer. 1t has devoted me
while l live to endless hopeless re-
morse.
l could do nothing but gaze ut him
in helpless wonder. He saw the effect
of his raving upon me, for he controlled
himself with great effort and sank
back into his seat, wiping the drops of
sweat from his forehead
Pardon me-, " he said family Il
must seem mailman to you, but
have associations of the most painful
kind with that amusement. | saw
that he could not bring himself to utter
= ,,,
said and do not mention that-that sub
ject again.
promised and left him, considerably
upset by my experience.
On my return to the fort l found the
garrison in a state of unwonted excite
ment. A runner had brought i'll the
news that Chief Colorado and his
Apaches had again broken out from
their mountain businesses and were
burning, destroying and numbering in
their customary fashion Within the
hour another courier had arrived from
the eastward with the information that
our colonel, with his wife and daugh
ter, was on his way to the post.
A messenger on the back of a fleet
mustang had been dispatched to warn
him of the danger, SO that he might not
undertake the journey from the station
at Guadalupe over region sure to be
| infested by the Indians before he could
reach the fort. But those of us who
knew Colonel Montgomery had little
expectation that our warning would
affect him, except indeed to confirm him
| in his determination to make the trip,
| for in plain truth there was not more
obstinate, pigheaded old fellow in the
service He had but to receive Il word
of advice, howsoever respectfully word
ed, from an inferior to decide him i'm
movably against it. Moreover, he knew
nothing of Indian warfare, his new ap-
pointment to our post being his first
command beyond the Mississippi, but
for that very reason he would be the
more certain to resent suggestions from
! those whose experience might have
| taught him something
He will be sure to try it" grumbled
| Reed, land before tomorrow night that
devil Colorado will be in the Skane
pass. A little scalping might do the
old fool good, but am thinking of the
women"
The result of our council was that |
started at daybreak on the following
morning with troop to effect if posi-
BILE the rescue of the colonel and his
party.
81 question if you will get there in
time, said Reed. at will be touch and
go anyway. But you can try it. If he
loses his hair and the women are car
ried off, he'll have nobody to blame but
himself"
We had ridden hard for four hours
without meeting with any disturbing
sign, when Sergeant Jennings, who
was acting as advance guard and guide,
brought US to "a sudden halt. He haC
dismounted and was bending over some
object in the short turf. got out of the
saddle and joined him.
"What is it?" l asked.