There I Met Again Captain Porter, And I Asked Him If He Had
Progressed Any In His Courtship, And He, Being Very Much
Embarrassed, Said He Did Not Know, But If Patient Waiting Was Of
Any Avail, He Believed He Might Win His Bride.
After we had been at Whipple a few days, Jack came in and
remarked casually to Lieutenant Aldrich, "Well, I heard Bernard
has asked to be relieved from Ehrenberg.
"What!" I said, "the lonely man down there on the river - the
prisoner of Chillon - the silent one? Well, they are going to
relieve him, of course?"
"Why, yes," said Jack, falteringly, "if they can get anyone to
take his place."
"Can't they order some one?" I inquired.
"Of course they can," he replied, and then, turning towards the
window, he ventured: "The fact is Martha, I've been offered it,
and am thinking it over." (The real truth was, that he had
applied for it, thinking it possessed great advantages over Camp
MacDowell. )
"What! do I hear aright? Have your senses left you? Are you
crazy? Are you going to take me to that awful place? Why, Jack, I
should die there!"
"Now, Martha, be reasonable; listen to me, and if you really
decide against it, I'll throw up the detail. But don't you see,
we shall be right on the river, the boat comes up every fortnight
or so, you can jump aboard and go up to San Francisco." (Oh, how
alluring that sounded to my ears!) "Why, it's no trouble to get
out of Arizona from Ehrenberg.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 118 of 274
Words from 31379 to 31640
of 72945
