It Was Most Fortunate That I Had Decided
Not To Ride At That Time, For A Pitch Over A Horse's Head With A Skirt
To Catch On The Pommel Is A Performance I Am Not Seeking.
And Bettie
had been such a dear horse all the time, her single foot and run both
so swift and easy.
Kelly says, "Yer cawn't feel yerse'f on her, mum."
Faye is quartermaster, adjutant, commissary, signal officer, and has
other positions that I cannot remember just now, that compel him to be
at his own office for an hour every morning before breakfast, in
addition to the regular office hours during the day. The post
commander is up and out at half past six every workday, and Sundays I
am sure he is a most unhappy man. But Faye gets away for a hunt now
and then, and the other day he started off, much to my regret, all
alone and with only a rifle. I worry when he goes alone up in these
dense forests, and when an officer goes with him I am so afraid of an
accident, that one may shoot the other. It is impossible to take a
wagon, or even ride a horse among the rocks and big boulders. There
are panthers and wild cats and wolves and all sorts of fearful things
up there. The coyotes often come down to the post at night, and their
terrible, unearthly howls drive the dogs almost crazy - and some of the
people, too.
I worried about Faye the other morning as usual, and thought of all
the dreadful things that could so easily happen. And then I tried to
forget my anxiety by taking a brisk ride on Bettie, but when I
returned I found that Faye had not come, so I worried all the more.
The hours passed and still he was away, and I was becoming really
alarmed. At last there was a shout at a side door, and running out I
found Faye standing up very tall and with a broad smile on his face,
and on the ground at his feet was an immense white-tail deer! He said
that he had walked miles on the mountain but had failed to find one
living thing, and had finally come down and was just starting to cross
the valley on his way home, when he saw the deer, which he fortunately
killed with one shot at very long range. He did not want to leave it
to be devoured by wolves while he came to the corral for a wagon, so
he dragged the heavy thing all the way in. And that was why he was
gone so long, for of course he was obliged to rest every now and then.
I was immensely proud of the splendid deer, but it did not convince me
in the least that it was safe for Faye to go up in that forest alone.
Of course Faye has shot other deer, and mountain sheep also, since we
have been here, but this was the first he had killed when alone.
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