Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1919-06-20
"Sorne Day
Chief
BY RALPH HAMILTON
Copyright. 1918. by Western N.v,n.n., u,,o, :,


Elsa Vernon was going into q brand
new life and was curious and excited.
She and her sister were orphans. and
LOT hre years Elsa had been living
with her uncle and aunt, the Now
brayS. This home life was pleasant
enough, but exceedingly dull. When
the word came from Myrtle, who had
been married anil gone west with
her husband five years previous, and
Myrtle thought she needed Elsa, the
latter hailed the prospect as q deliv-
erance from sort of social and in
tellectual bondage.
Myrtle Weston held out no glowing
picture to her sister. Very plainly
she Indicated that she and her neigh
bors were pioneer SojOurners in a
species of wilderness. Cali have"
she wrote, "is small house and eighty
acres, just at the edge Of an Indian
reservation, and few town lots in
a settlement that has exactly twenty
three residents to date. Since my
husband died it has been hard work."
Elsa had written Mt once TO her
sister. expressing the intensest de-
light at the prospect ahead. Her
dreams were all of grand mountain
ranges and beautiful valleys, where
people lived on horseback, and lovely
flowers and heartsOmc men and wOm-
en- existed. Myrtle had sent her some
money, and had instructed Elsa to
select what she thought would be most
useful from some old household traps
which had been stored in the home of
her uncle since the death of their
mother. Myrtle wrote that she lacked
considerable in the way of household
utilities. Elsa consumed q week sort
Ing out what could be most useful
of the great mass Of furniture cook
ing utensils and general knicknacks.
and when she finally set forth on the
one long journey of her life, had the
shipment reduced to her little trunk
and four large packing cases.
They were directed to Deep Gulch,
from what Myrtle wrote the nearest
railroad town, ten miles over the
mountain from Wycherley, near which
the little farm was located. Myrtle
wrote that she would have some one
meet her sister at the station and in
imagination Elsa built up a pleasing
vision of a stalwart, handsome young
frontiersman mounted on a superb
steed, leading a second one, and con-
veying her over the hills, q real prac-
teal Lochinyar.
This dream came true. When Just
such border hero met her and in
troduced himself as Boyd Wardell,
ELSA liked him from the start. His
welcome, he expressed it, was that of
all the gulch, friendly, heartsome peo-
pie who cherished gladly a new neigh
Dor. Besides, there was an organ in
the one meeting house of the place,
and Myrtle had told about her sisters
musical accomplishments. By the
time Elsa was placed safely in the
arms of Myrtle by the new conner
she felt that she had come across n
man she could like very much. War
dell was the sheriff Of the district,
everybody's friend, and became a reg
ular visitor at the little home where
Elsa had settled down into the groove
Of her new life.
1t was arranged that Elsa should
take charge of a little township school
with the coming Of autumn. In the
meantime Boyd Wardell was her de-
voted chevalier. There were long
rides on horseback, even to the top Of
Old Eagle, a lofty knoll full of ice
caves and snowy peaked nearly all the
year. Awaiting her school duties, Elsa
set about making friends among the
neighbors. At the edge of the settle
ment was an Indian family. Its head.
who was known as "Some Day Chief"
was in disgrace with his tribe, 200
miles to the west, worked little
silver claim and lived on the hope Of
final restoration to his old kingly po-
sition. His little daughter, whom he
idolized, fell ill, his wife was dead,
and, appraised Of the situation, Elsa
undertook to nurse the fevered, ailing
little one.
A queer incident grew out of this.
The little sufferer faded away, day
by day, longing for delicacies the rough
mountain isolation could not provide.
One day in going over the domestic
utensils she had brought from the
East, Elsa came across an ice cream
freezer. There were those about her
who had never seen such device.
Boyd Wardell offered to ride up to
the summit of Old Eagle and bring
back ice. An admiring crowd of neigh
bOrs stood around watching the op-
Grafton Of converting cream and eggs
into royal luxury. Elsa took bowl
Of the same to little Wachita. She
seemed to have happened upon the
one thing that assuaged the burning
thirst of the little one. Wachita
Frightened up marvelously, in a week
was better, in a month fully conva.
iescent, and when Some Day Chief