Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1912-06-06
CHAPTER XII.
Eorsakinu All Others.

H.
/ of the Platte where that
| - shallow stream stretches out
| two arms, one running to the noun
! tains far to the south, the other still
/ reaching westward for time. Be
! tween these two ran the Oregon trail.
pointing the way to the Pacific. and
on this trail, somewhere to the west,
| lay Laramie Before us now lay two
alternatives. We could go up the
beaten road to Laramie or we could
cross here and take an old trail on the
north side of the river for a time.
Auberry thought this latter would give
better feed and water and perhaps be
safer as to Indians. so we held little
council over it.
The Platte even here was wide.
treacherous stream, its sandy bottom
continuously shifting. At night the
melted floods from the mountains came
down and rendered it deeper than dur
ing the day. when for the most part it
was scarcely more than knee deep. Yet
| here and there at any time, undiscover
able to the eye, were watery pitfalls
! where lie Sduu WdS WdoASu Jul, oAu
in places there was shifting quicksand.
dangerous for man or animal.
We resorted to the old plains make
shift Of calking the wagon bodies and
turning them into boats, it being
| thought probable that two or three
days would be required to make the
crossing in this way. By noon of the
| following day our rude boats were
ready, and our work began.
was not yet strong enough to be
| of much assistance, SO / sat on the
bank watching the busy scene. Our
men were stripped to the skin, some of
the mountaineers brown almost as In
| dams. for even in those days white
| hunters often rode with no covering
| but the blanket and not that when the
sun was warm. They were now in,
now out of the water. straining at the
| lines which steadied the rude boxes
that bore our goods. pulling at the
heads of the horses and mules. shout
ing. steadying. encouraging, always
| getting forward. 1t took them nearly
an hour to make the first crossing,
and presently we could see the fire OF
their farther camp, now occupied by
some of those not engaged in the work.
AS 1 sat thus was joined by Mandy
McGoyern. did you see my boy,
Andy Jackson?" she asked. HE went
acrost with the first bunch-nary
stitch of clothes on to him. has
hopes-I certainly has hopes-that
Andrew Jackson Il kill man some
time yit, and like enough it'll be right
soon."
I gave my assent to this amiable
hope, and presently Mandy went on:
"But, say, man, you and me has got
to get that girl acrost somehow be-
tween us. You know, her and me and
sometimes that Englishman travels
along in the amberlanch. She's allow
ed to me quiet that when the time
come for her to go acrost she'd ruther
you and me went along. She's all
ready now if you air.
VERY good" said 1, well go now.
They've got a fire there and are cook
ing, / suppose"
We three, all mounted, met at the
bank. Taking the girl between us,
Mandy and / started, and the three
horses plunged down the bank. AS it
CHANGED, we struck a deep channel at
the send off, and the horses were at
once separated The girl was swept
out of her saddle, but before could
render any assistance she called out
not to be alarmed. / saw that she
was swimming. down stream from the
horse, with one hand on the pommel.
without much concern, she reached
footing on the bar at which the horse
scrambled up.
"Now I'm good and wet" laughed
she. at won't make any difference
after this. see now how the squaws
do
| We plunged on across the stream,
keeping our saddles for most of the
way, sometimes in shallow water,
sometimes on dry. sandy bars, and
now and again in swift, swirling cham
nels, but at last we got over and fell
1 upon the steaks of buffalo and the hot
coffee which we found at the fire. The
girl left us to make such changes in
her apparel as she might.
s"That gals good enough for real
man, like my first husband was" sal
Mandy.
what could he do?' asked her
smiling.
"Snuff candle at fifty yards or
drive nail at forty. He nach'elly
scorned to bring home squirrel shot
back Of the ears He killed four men
in fair knife fightin', an each time
come free in cote. He was six foot in
the clean, could hug like a bar, and
want skeered of anything that drawed
the breath of life"
ssTell me, Aunt Mandy" said-"telI
me how he came counting you any
way"
aHe never did no great at co'tin',"