The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1901-07-18


army girls, wives of wounded officers in
the Philippines, who by special dispen-
sation were making the voyage on the
| Queen, glanced quickly at each other
and said-nothing audible. The gen
eral, lifting his cap, but looking both
depreciation and embarrassment, fell
back and gave his place at the white
rail to the new arrival, and colored high
when she suddenly turned and took his
arm. The captain. trying not to see her
or to appear conscious of this infrac-
| ton of stringent rule and invasion of
| his dignity, grew redder as he shouted
rapid orders and swung his big, beauti-
full ship well out into the stream. The
guns of the Bennington doomed deaf
ening salute as the Queen turned her
sharp nose toward the open sea; and al
most the last thing Honolulu saw of
| her human freight was the tiny, dainty,
winsome little figure in white, waving
spotless kerchef in fond farewell
Once clear of the narrow entrance the
big troopship headed westward toward
the setting sun. shook free the ems, 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 Devil
dered veteran up and down the breezy
deck, she came, just as she had planned
to come face to 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-
rogation, 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 il 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-nothng less than a forged order
in her husbands name as aide-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
gloved hands. Gravely he took the left
in his left while with the right he raised
his forage cap in mbined salute to the
woman and to his superior officer
Gravey and almost instantly he re-
leased it, and listened in helpless pa
thence 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
woman he had honored above all her
sisterhood on board, in thus taking her
to the bridge wherein 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 rektled so confdingly
indeed, so snugly-close to his bat
tered side, and who had virtually taken
possession of him in the face of an 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 surges 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
AIRY of the general government had told
him pathetic tale the very day of his
first peep at the Royal Hawaiian hotel,
had given him "a capital dinner at that
famous hostelry, whereat she appeared
in charming attire, and in a flow of
spirits simply irresistible. Her salies
of wit had made him roar with delight;
her mimicry of one or two conscientious
but calculated danes who had come
over on the Queen, bound as nurses for
Manila, had tickled him to the verge
of apopleXy; but when later she backed
him into the coolest corner of the
lamar with the plash of fountain close
at hand, and the sweet music of Ber-
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 thither to
nurse gallant young officer in her
husbands regiment, how she had
pulled the boy through the perils of |
brain fever until he was now conval- !
escent and going on TO reioin his COM
rades in Manila, and she, she was pining
to reach her husband now serving on
Gen. Drayton's staff. Other women |