So When I Did Take Off The Mask There
Was A Shout:
"Why, it is Mrs. Rae," and "Oh, look at Mrs. Rae," and
several friends came up to us.
Well, I wish you could have seen the
colonel's face - the mingled surprise and almost horror that was
expressed upon it. Of course the vain man had placed himself in a
ridiculous position, chasing around and flirting with the wife of one
of his very own officers - a second lieutenant at that! It came out
later that he, and others also, had thought that I was a Helena girl
whom the colonel admires very much. It was rather embarrassing, too,
to be told that the girl was sitting directly opposite on the other
side of the room, where she was watching us with two big, black eyes.
And then farther down I saw Faye also looking at us - but then, a man
never can see things from a woman's view point.
The heat and weight of the two dresses had been awful, and as soon as
I could get away, I ran to a dressing room and removed the cambric.
But the pins! There seemed to be thousands of them. Some of the
costumes were beautiful and costly, also. Mrs. Manson, a lovely little
woman of Helena, was "A Comet." Her short dress of blue silk was
studded with gold stars, and to each shoulder was fastened a long,
pointed train of yellow gauze sprinkled with diamond dust. An immense
gold star with a diamond sunburst in the center was above her
forehead, and around her neck was a diamond necklace. Mrs. Palmer,
wife of Colonel Palmer, was "King of Hearts," the foundation a
handsome red silk. Mrs. Spencer advertised the New York Herald; the
whole dress, which was flounced to the waist, was made of the headings
of that paper. Major Blair was recognized by no one as "An Amercan
citizen," in plain evening dress. I could not find Faye at all, and he
was in a simple red domino, too.
I cannot begin to tell you of the many lovely costumes that seemed
most wonderful to me, for you must remember that we were far up in the
Rocky Mountains, five hundred miles from a railroad! I will send you a
copy of the Helena paper that gives an account of the ball, in which
you will read that "Mrs. Rae was inimitable - the best sustained
character in the rooms." I have thought this over some, and I consider
the compliment doubtful.
We remained one day longer in Helena than we had expected for the bal
masque; consequently we were obliged to start back the very next
morning, directly after breakfast, and that was not pleasant, for we
were very tired. The weather had been bitter cold, but during the
night a chinook had blown up, and the air was warm and balmy as we
came across the valley. When we reached the mountains, however, it was
freezing again, and there was glassy ice every place, which made
driving over the grades more dangerous than usual. In many places the
ambulance wheels had to be "blocked," and the back and front wheels of
one side chained together so they could not turn, in addition to the
heavy brake, and then the driver would send the four sharp-shod mules
down at a swinging trot that kept the ambulance straight, and did not
give it time to slip around and roll us down to eternity.
There is one grade on this road that is notoriously dangerous, and
dreaded by every driver around here because of the many accidents that
have occurred there. It is cut in the side of a high mountain and has
three sharp turns back and forth, and the mountain is so steep, it is
impossible to see from the upper grade all of the lower that leads
down into the canon called White's Gulch. This one mountain grade is a
mile and a half long. But the really dangerous place is near the
middle turn, where a warm spring trickles out of the rocks and in
winter forms thick ice over the road; and if this ice cannot be broken
up, neither man nor beast can walk over, as it is always thicker on
the inner side.
I was so stiffened from the overheating and try-to-fool dancing at
Mrs. Gordon's, it was with the greatest difficulty I could walk at all
on the slippery hills, and was constantly falling down, much to the
amusement of Faye and the driver. But ride down some of them I would
not. At Canon Ferry, where we remained over night, the ice in the
Missouri was cracked, and there were ominous reports like pistol shots
down in the canon below. At first Faye thought it would be impossible
to come over, but the driver said he could get everything across, if
he could come at once. Faye walked over with me, and then went back to
assist the driver with the mules that were still on the bank refusing
to step upon the ice. But Faye led one leader, and the driver lashed
and yelled at all of them, and in this way they crossed, each mule
snorting at every step.
There were the most dreadful groans and creakings and loud reports
during the entire night, and in the morning the river was clear,
except for a few pieces of ice that were still floating down from
above. The Missouri is narrow at Canon Ferry, deep and very swift, and
it is a dreadful place to cross at any time, on the ice, or on the
cable ferryboat. They catch a queer fish there called the "ling." It
has three sides, is long and slender, and is perfectly blind. They
gave us some for supper and it was really delicious.
We found everything in fine order upon our return, and it was very
evident that Cagey had taken good care of the house and Hal, but
Billie grayback had taken care of himself.
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