Willmar tribune., 1900-05-30
houses than 10 did ct hone, The COM
ing Of his wife was unannounced and


houses than no did ct hbne. The COM
ing Of his wife was unannounced and
Utterly unlocked for. Did I consult
my husband!"s she exclaimed :in SUR
prise, when asked the question one day
by the wife of q veteran field officer.
''Merciful heaven, Mrs. Lenox, there
was no TIME for that except by cable,
and at four dollars word. No! If
any doubt of what Frank Garrison will
say or do exists in my mind I go and
do the thing at once, then the doubt is
settled. If he approve, well and good;
if he doesn't-well, then I've had my
fun anyway" %
= But it made little difference what
Frank Garrison might think, say or do
when Nita's need came in question. It
was for Nita that Margaret Garrison 50
suddenly quilted the Presidio and has
tened to Hawaii. 1t was for her sake,
to be her counsel and protection, the
elder sister had braved refusal, difficult
ties, criticism, even Armstrong; open
suspicion and dislike, to take that long
voyage to hostile cline. That she
braved, too, her husbands displeasure
was not a matter of sufficient weight to
merit consideration. She was there to
help Nita;~ and until that hapless child
were freed from peril that, ever
threatening, seemed sapping her very
life, Margaret Garrison meant to stay.
For the letter that came by way of
Honolulu had told the elder sister of
increasing jealousy and suspicion on
the coloneps part, of his dreadful rage
at Yokohama on learning that even
there-tbe very hour of their arrival
when the consul came aboard with a
batch of letters in his hand, he had one
for Mrs. Frost. She had barely glanced
at its contents before she was stricken
with fit Of trembling, tore it in half,
and tossed the fragments on the swift
ebbing tide, then rushed to her state
room. There she added postscript to
the long letter penned to Margaret on
the voyage; and the purser, not her
husband, saw it safely started ON the
Gaelic, leaving for San Francisco via
Honolulu that very day. That letter
beat the ordinary mail, for the Queen
was heading seaward, even as the Gae-
lie came steaming in the coral-guarded
harbor, and little packet was tossed
aboard the new troop ship as she sped
away, one missive in it telling Witchie
Garrison that the man whose life had
been wrecked by her sisters enforced
desertion was already in Manila await
ing her coming, and telling her, more
over, that the packet placed in Gen.
Drayton's hands contained only her
earlier letters. In his reckless wrath
Latrobe had told her that those which
bound her to him by the most solemn
pledges, those that vowed undying love
and devotion, were still in his hands,
and that she should see him and them
when at last she reached Manila.
Three mortal weeks had the sisters
been there together, and never once in
that time did Nita venture forth except
when under the escort OF her black
browed husband or the protection Of
her smiling, witching, yet vigilant Mar
garet. Never once had their house been
approached by anyone who bore resem-
bfance to the dreaded lover. All along
the Gale Real, where were the quarters
of many officers, little guards of regu-
lars were stationed; for black rumors
Of Filipino uprising came with every
few days, and some mems hearts were
failing them for fear when they
thought of the paucity of their num-
bers as compared with the thousands
of fanatical natives to whom the taking
of human life was of less account than
the loss of game chicken, and in
whose sight assassination was a
virtue when it rid one Of foe. Already
many officers who had weakly yielded
to the importantly of devoted wife
was cursing the folly that led him to let
her join him. The outbreak was i'm
minent. Anyone could see the war was
sure to come-even those who strove to
Danish alarm and reassure an anxious
nation. And when the call to arms
should sound, duty, honor and law
would demand each soldiers instant
answer on the battle line; then who was
to care for the women? The very serv-
ants in each household, it was known,
were in most cases regularly enrolled
in the insurgent army. The crowded
districts in the city, the nipa huts sur
rounding the wealthy homes in the
suburbs swarmed with Filipino soldiery
in the garb of peace. Arms and ammu-
stone churches. Knives, bolos and pis-
tolls were hidden in every house.
Through the clergy, in some instances,
and foreign residents in others, the
statement was set afioat that every
American officers residence was mapped
and marked, that the Tagals were told
off by name-so many for each house in
proportion to the number of American
inmates-and day after day, awaiting
the signal for their bloody work, were
native devotees greeted with servile
bows and studied the habits of the Of
ficers they were designated to fall upon
in their sleep and slay without mercy.
Even women and children were not to
be spared; and many woman, hearing
this grewsome story, trembled in her
terror. For time, in dread of this new
peril, Nita Frost almost forgot the
other; but not so Margaret. She
scoffed and secuted the rumor of Fill
ipino outbreak. She laughed at Frost,
who all too evidently believed in it and
was in hourly trepidation. He begged
that the guard at his quarters might be
doubled, and was totally unnerved
when told it might even have to be re-
duced.. Not so Mrs. Frank. She made
friends with the stalwart sergeant
commanding; always had hot coffee
and sandwiches ready for the midnight
relief; made it a point to learn the