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12
WHY?
Hattie Horner-Louthun in Union Signal.
He couldn't write, he couldn't read.
He little knew nor caivd
About the people's wrongs and need;
How others lived he took no heed.
Nor how they fared.
The big saloon he couldn't pass,
Nor pools of any type.
He couldn't live without his glass.
And he ftl miserable, alas!
Without his pipe.
On public stream*, whichever the way.
He could <lo naught but float;
And on the questions of the day
He couldn't think, he couldn't pray-
But he could vote.
She couldn't drink, she couldn't swear.
She couldn't even smoke;
Nor could she open wrongs declare.
Nor with n ballot did she dare
The right invoke.
She loved the people, and she knew
The questions passing by
Were weighty; her conclusions drew—
And out of these convictions grew.
The how and why.
She kepi herself outside tlio rut;
From leading minds could quote;
she had opinions clearly cut;
Could write and road and reason—but
She could not vole.
SAVING THE TREASURE.
At 5 o'clock in the afternoon the
paymaster's ambulance and escort en
tered the gates of Fort Lyons, coming
from Albuquerque, and ten minutes
later a scout appeared who had come
down from Fort Wing-ate through
Campbell's pass in the Zuni moun
tains. The route of the paymaster
would be west to Forts Wingate and
Canby, south to Fort West, east to
Fort Mcßae, and then north to Fort
Craig and on to Albuquerque. It re
quired a tidy sum of money to pay off
the garrisons of the six forts, and the
greenbacks from the paymaster's safe
were always so brand new from the
presses at Washington that the sol
diers spread them out on their blank
ets and admired them for their artistic
beauty. The paymaster had nothing
of account to report when he reached
the fort. He had followed the usual
trail, made the usual number of miles
per day, and had arrived on the day he
had expected and had planned. His
escort consisted of ten men and a ser
geant. It was the same escort he had
had for ten years, and he had no word
of fault to find. The driver of the
ambulance was a new man, a soldier
who had recently reached Albuquer
que. So far as his duties went he ap
peared to be the right man in the right
place. No, Major Horton had nothing
to report that would interest any one
for half a minute. With the scout
who had come down from Fort Win
gate the case was different, however.
He should have started a day sooner.
To make up for lost time he had
THE RANCH.
snatched only brief intervals of rest,
and he reached Lyons so worn out that
he had to be helped from the saddle.
"I am satisfied," wrote the com
mandant at Fort Wingate, "that a
gang of renegade white men are in
hiding somewhere on Horton's route
with the intention of attack. They
will not hesitate to murder all hands
to get possession of the safe. My ad
vice is that he double his escert from
Lyons and take extra precautions
against ambush. The gang numbers
at least twenty men, several of whom
are deserters, and all are thoroughly
well armed."
"Pish!" exclaimed the paymaster as
the messag-e was placed in his hands.
"There are thirteen of us in the es
cort, and all can handle a Winchester.
They can't get half a dozsn outlaws
tog-ether in this whole territory for
anything- beyond cattle stealing.
Twenty men, eh? That's all nonsense!
Much obliged to Scott, but I don't pro
pose to have the newspapers wonder
ing if I have lost my nerve and sug
gesting that I enter the railroad ser
vice."
"I can spare you ten men," said the
colonel in command at Fort Lyons,
"and there may be more in the story
than you allow for. Scott must have
got things pretty straight, or he
wouldn't have rushed a man down here
after this fashion."
"Much obliged to both of you, but if
the thirteen of us can't pull through
we'd better go into the laundry busi
ness."
Next day the g-arrison was paid off.
On the next, before daylight was an
hour old, Maj. Horton was on his way
up the San Jose river, which has its
rise in the Zuni mountains. On the
nig-ht previous the commandant had
said to him:
"Look here, Horton, I want you to
do me a favor. We buried Serg-eant
Johnson here about a month ag-o. He
was a married man, and his widow has
relatives up at Wing-ate and wants to
get there. Why can't you take her
along?"
"Women have no business out here,"
gruffly replied the major.
"But that doesn't help me out. They
were married long enough before he
came here, and she is a woman liked
and respected by all. I can't send her
up with those rough freighters, nor do
I wish to detail an escort for that pur
pose. Give her a seat in the ambu
lance and help me out."
The major growled and swore, but
finally consented. He meant to from
the first, but that wasn't his way. He
had his mind made up to see a gaunt,
red-faced post laundress, with a cloak
made of a condemned overcoat and a
dress manufactured from a Mexican
blanket, but a surprise awaited him.
The widow was neither gaunt nor red
faced, and she was as tidily clothed as
if she had just come out from Albu
querque. She was a woman of 30,
fairly good looking and quiet spoken,
and though "only a sergeant's wife,"
the major decided that it was another
case where love had been blind to the
prestige of shoulder straps. He over
hauled the ambulance to make it more
comfortable, and was really much
obliged in his heart to the command
ant for making the proposition. The
ambulance was not exactly an ambu
lance, but a covered vehicle made on
purpose to carry the extra weight of
the safe and stand the rough roads con
necting the military posts of New
Mexico. The major shared his seat
with the widow, the escort closed in
around the vehicle, and at the word all
were off for the mountain pass and
Fort Wingate.
Every man in the escort had heard
of th^ warning sent down by messen
ger, but the major had issued no or
ders or instructions bearing on the
same. Two of the troopers rode some
distance ahead as scouts. Then came
the sergeant and four others. Behind
the vehicle, as a rear guard, rode the
other four. Each trooper had a car
bine, a brace of revolvers and a saber.
Strapped to the roof of the vehicle
were weapons for the major and his
driver. Unless taken by surprise, the
escort ought to be able to give a good
account of themselves, no matter what
the strength of the enemy. As the
sergeant's widow took her seat in the
ambulance that morning the driver ex
hibited great surprise and something
like trepidation, though only for a mo
ment. Then he queried of her in
Spanish:
"Ah, you are to g-o to the fort with
us? I did not know that. I have
heard that it is a very roug-h trail over
the mountains."
She could speak the Spanish tongue
and perfectly understood what he said,
but as she made no reply, the man
spoke in English:
"Beg- pardon, lady, but if you are to
ride with us today I shall have to be
more careful in my driving-."
She made answer that she was going
to Fort Wingate, and that was the ex
tent of conversation between them.
A halt was made at noon to rest and
feed, and an hour before dark the es
cort went into camp for the night at
the east mouth of Campbell's pass,
almost on the crest of the mountaias.
The major had found the sergeant's
widow a woman of fair education and
an entertaining' companion, and long
before the day was over he had lost
sight of the gulf between shoulder
straps and the chevrons on the fron
tier. They sat apart from the men as
they ate their supper, cooked over the
