Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1903-04-25
Phyllis FenWlcke's Adventure.

England with his Wild West show, and
the ladies especially appeared to invest
those considerahly-tamed specimens on
view Of West Brompton with n sweetly
sentimental, romantic fnteress which
fancy they wo1ld scarcely have been able
TO feel II they had ever been forced to face
the Red-men at fearful odds In their ma
tive haunts.
i was fated to undergo this agreeable
experience once, in the good old days when
the now almost extinct bison roamed the
Wild West In vast herds, whilst the Indian
and the white invader were ut continual
enmity, the former then being about as
civilized as the coyote and rs friendly as
the dreaded ''grizzlies." Nevertheless,
the white man established himself In the
land, and on the whole he prospered.
The time of which ] am speaking was
the beginning of the gold fever" and my
brothers had been so bitten with the pre-
valent mania that they used all their In
fluence to persuade my father to give up
the old farm I'm Hawkesdale and 90 TO New
California.
Perhaps their arguments. had more
weight with my father because he was
shrewd enough to see that farming was
tNtu lltH DtIO'lllJ~ u lOSlDR kdIl's, WulIt
the auriferous prospects held out to him
appeared unusually tempting by compare
son.
!, Phyllis, being only n girl, did not OF
course count for much in these family ar.
rangements: yet, in a sense, because was
the only daughter and my mother was
dead, / did count very much in my fathers
eyes, and he would, / verify believe, have
stayed Mt home sooner than leave me be-
hind. But | was as vcnturous in disposi-
ton NJ any of my brothers, and looked
forward to the new life with immense in.
t~erest, all the deeper perhaps because
was so utterly without experience.
1t was finally arran red that my father
should take up some land I'm Hope Valley,
Il Dorado county, and there, with Char
lie Ripley's assistance, start stock farm
ing, whilst my three brothers tried their
luck AT the "digg'ngs' IN the same county.
II I had been going to the must luxuriou:
home in the finest part Of our own favored
land, i could not possibly have been more
eager or enthusiastic over u future pros
poets. 1t was enough for me that my lover
was TO share our fortunes; and what more
could q romantic girl whose acquaintance
WIN lttll IttANAHtiip IshA hoo W DNC' Wv
sirc2
There had been Fcnwickes at Moss-side
and Ripleys mt the Birkets for more gen
erations than | can count; the two farms
lay side by side, and Charlie and | had
been little playmates and child sweet
hearts ever since l can rcmemb Der; whence
Hawkesdale considered 1t n ''seemly"
thing, and that we were only fulfilling our
destiny, when we grew up and blossomed
into real lovers who were soberly and SER
ioIsly engaged.
Naturally enough, since the course OF
true love, we know, never does run smooth,
fate must put her finger %lto the pie, to
import n spice of romance into O love az
fair, that threatened to be SO decorously
dull as ours; and this element OF interest
was, it seemed, destined TO be supplied at
the eleventh hour by the sudden illness OF
old Mr. Ripley.
To my dismay and Charles grief, his
father was taken i'll early in February,
and died before the end Of the month.
Now my folk had decided to start during
the second week in March, and to defer
IL departure would have been equally
useless and impossible, since we discov-
cred, to our chagrin, that Mr.. Ripley had
left all he possessed to his wife during her
lifetime, and it was afterwards to be
equally divided between Charlie and his
sister Alice. 1t was out of the question
that the only son, to whom the widow
now looked for everything, should go
,way, leaving matters in 50 unsettled n
state and his mother to the mercy of hire
lings. Obviously the duty that lay near
4 T. I.--I .--, 90 ntnty OF hnnnn nId
n the farm for his mother and sister
till some permanent arrangement could be
made for their benefit.
It was n heavy blow for us-the heavier
because It was so unexpected; but Charlie
did his best ia cheer me and himself by
steadily refusing to relinquish the hope or
coming out to join us some time within a
year or so; and ut nineteen when one Is
full of health and life, n year does not seem
so very long to look forward to.
NV lover came with us rs far as Liver
pool, in order to be with me until the last
possible minute and defer the inevitable
agony of separation.
''There's Just the ghost of n chance, you
knew, Phyllis darling, that l shan't be
tied down to the old country so long as
your father seems to fancy" he said, try
ing to speak lightly.
We were standing on deck, hand In
hand, in n quiet corner quite alone, whilst
the last precious moments fled away, and
tears chased one another rapidly down my
pale cheeks. This farewell to my native
land was by no means what l had antici-
pated, and the difference between my rose
colored visions and the sad, stern reality
was too terrible just then for me to make
even n pretext of cheerfulness.
II don't see how you can ever come" l
returned, discousolately: there are the
farm and Mrs. Ripley and Alice!'-enum'
Grating all these terrible obstacles with a
little smOthered sob.
Eyes, dear heart; but you must remen,
Der there is also Hugh Dalton. He and
Alice haven't settled matters yet; still
they understand each other; and, If | can
but get him to see his way clear, | know
l may safely intrust my mother and sister
to his care. Hugh likes to see his way,
o know, Phyllis, he's sure and steady,
honest as the day. If / can work round
Hugh and get on the right side Of him, I'll
come, m darling. But we'll say nothing
to the others; this is only II tiny bitof hope
for your heart and mine TO feed upon when
we two are parted"
There were Just n few more last words,
and then the long-dreaded moment came,
| felt my lovers arms close about me, and
the very last pressure of his lips to mine'
after that | think he put me into my
fathers arms and hurried away down the
ladder. / tried to distinguish his face as
he stood on shore, but tears blinded me,
and l obtained only a misty view of a sea
of upturned faces, with here and there
waving handkerchief, as the Osprey moved
slowly out of dock and down the Mersey.
We had been settled in our new home
nearly n twelvemonth, my brothers re.
manning with us until iii new houses
strong log cabin Of which we were all very
proud-was finished and habitable; ther
.I,ox ,rfoJ G,prncnoctinr ~ finally taking