Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1900-06-14

once clear OF the narrO" entrance tne
big troUpship headed westward toward
the setting sun, shook free the reins, as
it were, and, followed by less favored
craft, sped swiftly on her way, Witchie
Garrison, the latest addition to the
passenger list, entirely at home, if not
actually in command.
Leaning on the generals arm an hour
later and deftly plotting that bewii-
dereG veteran up and down the breezy
deck. she caI1e. Just a., she had planned
to come, face /. face once more with
Stanley Armstrong. Well she knew
that under the escort of that exalted
rank she was safe from any possibility
of cross question or interference. Well
she knew that had he heard of her sud
den determination to go to Honolulu
she could not have escaped stern inter
Yogation, possibly something worse;
and her heart failed her when she real
lied that the man who had gagged her
shallow nature years before, now held
a lash over her head in the shape of the
paper that mad vanity had prompted
her to write and send to the officer OF
the guard the day that Stewart sailed.
What madness it was, indeed, yet how
could she have dreamed it would fall
into the hands Of the man of all others
she feared and respected-the one man
who, had he but cared, could years ago
have had her love. the man who. BE-
cause he cared not, had won her hate.
And, now that he held or had held this
paper-no thing less than a forged order
in her husbands name as aidc-de-camp
to Gen. Drayton, she could have COW
cred at his feet in her terror of him,
yet braved him with smiles. sweetness
and gayety, with arch merriment and
joyous words, quitting for the moment
the generals arm that she might ex-
tend to him both her little white
gIoved hands. Gravely he took the left
in his left while with the right he raised
his forage cap in combined salute to the
woman and to his superior officer.
Grayely and almost instantly he re-
leased it, and listened in helpless pa
tience to her torrent of playful words;
but his eyes were on the generals face
as though he would ask could he, the
general, know the true character of the
NOllldI ne Ilit HOuOIth dDONb an ueT
sisterhood on board, il. thus taking her
to the bridge whereon neither officer
nor man nor nurse nor army wife had
presumed to set foot in all the six days
run from San Francisco; as though he
would ask if the general knew just what
she was, this blithe, dainty, winsome
little thing that nestled so contidingly
indeed, so snugly-close to his bat
tered side, and who had virtually taken
possession of him in the face of ap en-
vious and not too silent circle of her
own sex. Truth to tell, the chief would
rather have escaped. He was but an
Indifferent sailor, and the Queens long,
lazy roll over the ocean suroes was eX-
citing in his inner consciousness a long
ing for cracked ice and champagne.
He had known her but the few days
the Queen remained in port, coaling and
preparing for the onward voyage across
the broad Pacific; but great function
dry of the general government had told
MIN a pathetic tale the very day of his
first peep at the Royal Hawaiian hotel.
had given him a capital dinner at that
famous hostelry, wherxat she appeared
in charming attire, and in a flow Of
spirits simply irresistible. Her saIlies
of viii had made him roar with delight;
her mimicry of one or two conscientious
but aciduiated DANES who had come
over on the Queen, bound as nurses for
Manila, had ticllled him to the verge
of apopicXy; but when later she backed
him into the coolest corner of the
lanai with the piash of fountain close
at hand, and the sweet music of Bcr-
gers famous band floating softly on the
evening air, and told him how her
father had loved to talk Of his, the gen
erals, dash and daring in the great
days Of the great war and led him on
to tell of his campaigns in the Shenan-
doah and. the west, listening with di-
lated eyes and parted lips, the cam
paigner himself, was captivated. and
she had her will. A great senator had
told him how she had come thilhcr to
nurse a gallant young officer in her
husbands regiment, how she had
pulled the boy through the peris of
brain fever until he was now conval-
escent and going on to rejoin his COM
rades in Manila, and she, she was pining
to reach her husband now serving on
Gen. Drayton's staff. Other women
were aboard the Queen; could not Gen.
Crabb find room for her? 1t is hnrd
for soldier to refuse pretty woman
or a prominent member of the commit
tee or military affairs. There was not a
vacant stateroom on the ship. Officers
were sleeping three or four in a room,
so were the Red Cross nurses: and the
two army wives already aboard had
been assigned a little cubbyhole of ii
cabin in which only one could dress AZ
time. There were only two apart
nents on the big craft that were not
filled to their capacity-the room occu-
pied by that sea monarch, the captain,
and tLat which from Il q r.ir,nr l,nnn IL