Arizona republican., 1898-02-26
(Oontinued From Yesterday.)

was eXtravagant in his tastes, had in- cured obligations before going on duty at the Point, and found it impossible to "catch up'' there. There were three or four accounts he had been asked to settle, as they had been running some time, but he put them off from month to month, hoping that he might soon be able to obtain possession of small sum of money left him by the will of relative two years before. It was only few thousand dollars, yet even that had been contested, together with q number of similar bequests, and the legal complications had been as ex- asperating as the laws delay could make them. One day. soon after Char lotte's wedding. Merriam was sum moned to the presence of the super intendent and was regretfully told that four of his creditors had united in an appeal to the war department, and the matter had been referred to him as Rost commander. Merriam was con-
 Qnded. He had seen and talked with
 pf them only a few weeks before,
 DO such action had even been hinted
 Nor did he know that any one of cDir number was aware of his indebt kdness to the others. Frankly he had told Miss Fan of these matters before he told her of his love. but it made, ap- parently, no impression on her. 'fLet them wait," she said. You'll soon be able to pay them ten times over" Frankly he had talked of it to one or two of his intimates, and later to Parry, who had grown to like him, and who. 1or L ance could not be much longer with held. It would free him; it would very prettily furnish their quarters and still leave a few hundreds to the fore. He remembered, too, that Uncle Mellen had made some inquiries of him, and that in perfect frankness he had replied. And now, just at the moment when he was full of hope and happiness. came this cruel modification. Such action oH tn. part of his creditors was unac- 6uN ble, but, as the superintendent saNHt was solemn fact. Deeply cha grined, he told the colonel the whole story, and the colonel was full of sym pathy, but as full of sense.
 ''I'm sorry, Merriam said he, "but there's only one thing for you to do ~ S AO eShiiiAS5 "IiCh Ou II CNCI RSI that inheritance. When lawyers once get hold of an estate it's dollars to dimes nobody else ever does, and by the time judgment is awarded in your fla vor it will be eaten up in fees and in numerable charges. You cannot count o1 cent of it. You cannot save any thing to speak of here. Just capitalize those debts of yours; borrow the money from some business man on reasonable time and interest, get your life insured in his favor, and go out and join our troop. We can have you relieved as at your own request, and once out on the frontier you can save so much month and little by little pull yourself out.''
 And leaving his pretty sweetheart. his chosen friends and pleasant sur roundings, this was exactly what Randy Merriam did. Ned Parry, with puzzled look on his face, had listened to his mournful recital, had promptly offered his services and his bank ac- count, and made but one stipulation: Don't you go near those fellows, Mer- riam. Let me have the bills and I'll send you the receipts for Parry had A theory of his own.
 Sedgwick was as dreary post, so far as surroundings were concerned, as ccgld be found in the west. It stood on pebbly mesa, flat and barren, over looking the narrow, tortuous, shallow canyon through which rippled the waters of the San Mateo. Across the western horizon hung a low, jagged curtain of distant blue mountains. Far fn fha l. shimmered in the dazzling sunshine, but north, east and south the low roll ing contour of the prairie, like the ground swell of the ocean, was lost in lllimitable monotony. The only trees were some willows down in an arroyo that emptied its rivulet after a rain storm into the stream. The only green things were the blinds and vines upon the piazas of the officers quarters. Yet Seogwick was big post, an important post, for great Indian reservation lay only 20 miles away toward the noun fains- Two lines of railway met at the Junction three miles down stream, and by riding few miles westward one came suddenly upon fertile valley, where grass and trees abounded, and
 
 where by rights the old post should have been located; but all that was In dian reservation when Sedgwick was built, and not until long after did the territorial officials succeed in getting it Topped off from Los allotment and thrown open to settlement. Along the bowery shades of the Santa Clara were now ranches by the dozen, and a hun dred or more of enterprising settlers, and between them and the thronging garrison at Sedgwick was peace and good will and every kindly relation, when Randy Merriam came out in the December of the Columbian year, de- tecmined to take his punishment like "a man. He had sworn off cigars and extravagances of every kind. For l. ]