The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1898-11-17
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plreDIly, no impression on Fer. Let
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 iutimates. and later to Parry,
who had grown to like him. and who,
as lawyer, thought his little inherit
ance could not be much longer with
held. 1t would free him; il would very
prettily furnish their quarters and still
leave few hundreds to the fore. lie
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
on the part of his creditors was unac-
countab.e. but. as the superintendent
said, it was n 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.
There's no telling when you'll ever get
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 IA
vor it will be eaten up in fees and in
Vulnerable charges. You cannot count
oil 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 n 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, MS
could be found in the west. 1t stood
on Il pebbly mesa, fiat and barren, over
looking the narrow, tortuous, shallow
canyon through which rippled the
waters of the San Mateo. Across the
western horizon hung low. jagged
curtain of distant blue mountains. Far
away to the northwest snow peak
shimmcred 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
illimitable monotony. The only trees
were some willows down in an arroyo
that emptied it's rivuIet after rain
storm into the stream. The only green
things were the blinds and vines upon
the pinzas of the officers quarters. Yet
Sedgwick was big post, an important
post, for n great Indian reservation lay
only 20 miles away toward the noun
tains. Two lines of railway met at the
junction three miles down stream, and
by riding few miles westward one
NahiN UPON a 'llc NdllNN .
where grass and trees aboundcd. and
where all nature seemed to smile. 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
bowcry shades of the Santa Clara were
now ranches by the dozen. and hun
dred or more of entcrprising settlers.
and between them and the t!ronging
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-
teimined to take his punishment like
a man. lie had sworn of cigars and
extravagances of every kind. For a
time he even declined to subscribe to
the hops, which were charming affairs,
for the band was excellent and the regi-
ment blessed with many lovely and
lovable women. Merriam spends all
Of his money in stamps" was the COM
ment of the garrison wits, for he wrote
day after day to his distant darling in
the east. That winter Ned Parry ac-
cepted the junior partnership in the
great firm of Graeme & Rayburn, in
Chicago, and moved thither with his
lovely wife, while Fan remained with
Aunt and Uncle Mellen in Gotham, pin
ing, presumably, for her fnr-away SOL
der hoy, and yet writing much less fire.
quently than he did, for the demands
of society were incessant and auntie
kept her ION the CO."
One day in April there came a letter
from the east at sight of which Randy
Merriam's face was radiant with Joy.
1t briefly told him that the long ltiga-
ton was over and that some S3.500 all
that was left of the original $4,000. were
Mt his disposal. Jubilantly. confidently
then, he wrote to Fanny to name the
day, and in course of time there came n
reply, long, self-accusing, penitent,
miserable, but all-suflicient. The day
was named. and so was the, man-Mr.
John Harold McLane, of New York, q
wealthy widower of IS.
(Coptinued next weekly