"If you were not an old
bachelor you would have known better than to have told a woman not to
do a thing - you would have known that, in all probability, that would
be the very thing she would do first!" That mollified him a little,
but we did not laugh - life had just been too serious for that.
The chaplain had joined us, and so had Lieutenant Alden. The fence I
had run to was the chaplain's, and when the good man saw us he came
out and assisted me to his house, where I received the kindest care
from Mrs. Lawton. I knew that Faye would be greatly worried about me,
so as soon as I had rested a little - enough to walk - and had got some
of the dust out of my eyes, the chaplain and I hurried down to our
house to let him know that I was safe.
At every house along the line the heavy shutters were closed, and not
one living thing was to be seen, and the post looked as though it
might have been long abandoned. There was a peculiar light, too, that
made the most familiar objects seem strange. Yes, we saw a squad of
enlisted men across the parade ground, trying with immense ropes to
get back in place the heavy roof of the long commissary building which
had been partly blown off.
We met Faye at our gate, just starting out to look for us. He said
that when the storm first came up he was frightened about me, but when
the broad adobe house began to rock he came to the conclusion that I
was about as safe out on the plains as I would be in a house,
particularly as I was on a good horse, and with two splendid horsemen
who would take the very best care of me. My plait of hair was one mass
of dirt and was cut and torn, and is still in a deplorable condition,
and my face looks as though I had just recovered from smallpox. As it
was Monday, the washing of almost every family was out on lines, about
every article of which has gone to regions unknown. The few pieces
that were Caught by the high fences were torn to shreds.
FORT LYON, COLORADO TERRITORY,
January, 1872.
OUR little party was a grand success, but I am still wondering how it
came about that Mrs. Barker and I gave it together, for, although we
are all in the same company and next-door neighbors, we have seen very
little of each other. She is very quiet, and seldom goes out, even for
a walk. It was an easy matter to arrange things so the two houses
could, in a way, be connected, as they are under the same long roof,
and the porches divided by a railing only, that was removed for the
one evening.
