, 1905-01-25

q line strung with
suffering by drought, starvation, the
hot and cold of climate and the poison
tipped arrow; with smiles and tears
and throbs of fear and hope. AS If one
might make q bouquet of such things,
here a purple greed of gold, and here
a crimson joy, and yet again a pas
sion posy, pied and specked, and
changing DER with color, the whole re-
membered today like a clot of expert
ence lying upon the breast of memory.
An emigrant OK train of '58, then,
gee, Buck, and haw, Barley! Tramp
ing feet and creaking yokes and groan-
Ing wheels; drivers with faces set to
the west; a laughing child, climbing
In and out of wagons; ~unbonneted
women knitting or sewing or idling the
time away; the captain, riding up n
down, like a king pacing his domin-
ions. How blithe, how gay, such a
life!
"Senor, take the Beale and Whipple
route. New route, senior. No cattle
yet travel this way and eat all the
grass urged the commandante at Al
buquerque, his heart set on having as
many Travelled roads as possible lead
Ing from the city. mo fighting In
dams, captain. Navajo very good just
now, and no Apache at all"
what do you say, Boy? laughed
Captain Robinson, bestowing a fond
glance on the bare legged, crop haired
girl at his side. Her face had the
shifting fire of opals cleaning in lips
and cheeks and eyes-just a little four
~teen-year-old, raised on the hog and
corn of the Iowa river bottoms.
"Whatever you say, paw" she an
swered, her teeth flashing white be-
tween the parted lips. "Tn go with
you, no matter which way you take,
you know" !
"Ah, will you!" laughed the captain,
pinching her ear. When he rode out of
town to the camp her two bare feet
were in the stirrup he had given up to
her and her hands clasped his arm.
Sometimes she rode behind him. and
often half upon the neck of the roam
horse, Lucy, who was well accustomed
to wild mounts.
On the outskirts of the town they
galloped into Camp Comfort" as they
had called it all along the way. Vari-
Gus conveniences, such as camps did
not usually boast, were scattered
round-an old fashioned rocking chair,
with arms, stood by a cast iron stove;
a young woman just budding into CO.
Quetry knitted a bit of bright worsted,
with one foot displayed on a lowered
footstool; the smallest child, in antici-
patton of what was to come, firted
about in d pair of idealized moccasins.
They had seen no Indians yet, and the
real moccasin was Il thing of the pal
pitating future.
The white hooded wagons, tongues
inward, were drawn about the center
In a circle, and a restless, low and
long drawn, composite below, which
was suggestive of great things in hoofs
and horns, drifted in from an elusive
point of compass-from overhead or
underneath, as far as the unaccustom-
ed listener could judge.
The captain adjusted his ear critical
fy to the sound. "Alls well with the
cattle" he thought. MY fortune will
be banked or laid out in leagues of
land by another year. Five hundred
bead of blooded cattle, and in Califor.
mia nothing but miserable, big horned
wild things that roam the valleys ant
mesas! l shall q%uadruple my money!
Boy sprang to the ground as lightly
as Il rubber ball, and, dropping the
reins on old Lucy's neck, the captain
swung down from the saddle.
Father" reproved his wife, don
you see we have visitors? AS zeal as
can make out they are the wife ant
daughter of that Mexican who wa,
out here yesterday trying to max,
terms as guide
Two Mexican women sat smilingl,
by the camp stove. the one yellowins
into a withered middle age. the othel
with Il rich adolescence Dreaming he
cheeks.
"Senor captain" each murmured a
the captain took their hands. Tn
stains of their corn husk cigarrito
frankly chung to their soft fingers, bu
l ioNd p'oplc lhes Ntle HeIo,
and amiable allowances must be made
Boy looked curiously at the two WON
en-, her long, bare legs giving her til
appearance of a turkey hen, and the.
returned smiles as soft and meaning
less as cotton batting.
"Shake hands, Boy said her father
"Muchacho?" repeated the eide
woman inQuiringly. "Ah, muchacha