And now I was in a fine plight! I took a sunshade, and ran over
to Fisher's house. "Mr. Fisher, what shall I do? Ellen has gone
to Tucson!"
Fisher bethought himself, and we went out together in the
village. Not a woman to be found who would come to cook for us!
There was only one thing to do. The Quartermaster was allowed a
soldier, to assist in the Government work. I asked him if he
understood cooking; he said he had never done any, but he would
try, if I would show him how.
This proved a hopeless task, and I finally gave it up. Jack
dispatched an Indian runner to Fort Yuma, ninety miles or more
down river, begging Captain Ernest to send us a soldier-cook on
the next boat.
This was a long time to wait; the inconveniences were
intolerable: there were our four selves, Patrocina and Jesusita,
the soldier-clerk and the Indian, to be provided for: Patrocina
prepared carni seca with peppers, a little boy came around with
cuajada, a delicious sweet curd cheese, and I tried my hand at
bread, following out Ellen's instructions.
How often I said to my husband. "If we must live in this wretched
place, let's give up civilization and live as the Mexicans do!
They are the only happy beings around here.
"Look at them, as you pass along the street! At nearly any hour
in the day you can see them, sitting under their ramada, their
backs propped against the wall of their casa, calmly smoking
cigarettes and gazing at nothing, with a look of ineffable
contentment upon their features! They surely have solved the
problem of life!"
But we seemed never to be able to free ourselves from the fetters
of civilization, and so I struggled on.
One evening after dusk, I went into the kitchen, opened the
kitchen closet door to take out some dish, when clatter! bang!
down fell the bread-pan, and a shower of other tin ware, and
before I could fairly get my breath, out jumped two young squaws
and without deigning to glance at me they darted across the
kitchen and leaped out the window like two frightened fawn.
They had on nothing but their birthday clothes and as I was
somewhat startled at the sight of them, I stood transfixed, my
eyes gazing at the open space through which they had flown.
Charley, the Indian, was in the corral, filling the ollas, and,
hearing the commotion, came in and saw just the disappearing
heels of the two squaws.
I said, very sternly: "Charley, how came those squaws in my
closet?" He looked very much ashamed and said: "Oh, me tell you:
bad man go to kill 'em; I hide 'em."
"Well," said I, "do not hide any more girls in this casa! You
savez that?"
He bowed his head in acquiescence.
I afterwards learned that one of the girls was his sister.
The weather was now fairly comfortable, and in the evenings we
sat under the ramada, in front of the house, and watched the
beautiful pink glow which spread over the entire heavens and
illuminated the distant mountains of Lower California. I have
never seen anything like that wonderful color, which spread
itself over sky, river and desert. For an hour, one could have
believed oneself in a magician's realm.
At about this time, the sad-eyed Patrocina found it expedient to
withdraw into the green valleys of Lower California, to
recuperate for a few months. With the impish Jesusita in her
arms, she bade me a mournful good-bye. Worthless as she was from
the standpoint of civilized morals, I was attached to her and
felt sorry to part with her.
Then I took a Mexican woman from Chihuahua. Now the Chihuahuans
hold their heads high, and it was rather with awe that I greeted
the tall middle-aged Chihuahuan lady who came to be our little
son's nurse. Her name was Angela. "Angel of light," I thought,
how fortunate I am to get her!
After a few weeks, Fisher observed that the whole village was
eating Ferris ham, an unusual delicacy in Ehrenberg, and that the
Goldwaters' had sold none. So he suggested that our commissary
storehouse be looked to; and it was found that a dozen hams or so
had been withdrawn from their canvas covers, the covers stuffed
with straw, and hung back in place. Verily the Chihuahuan was
adding to her pin-money in a most unworthy fashion, and she had
to go. After that, I was left without a nurse. My little son was
now about nine months old.
Milk began to be more plentiful at this season, and, with my
sister's advice and help, I decided to make the one great change
in a baby's life i.e., to take him from his mother. Modern
methods were unknown then, and we had neither of us any
experience in these matters and there was no doctor in the
place.
The result was, that both the baby and myself were painfully and
desperately ill and not knowing which way to turn for aid, when,
by a lucky turn of Fortune's wheel, our good, dear Doctor Henry
Lippincott came through Ehrenberg on his way out to the States.
Once more he took care of us, and it is to him that I believe I
owe my life.
Captain Ernest sent us a cook from Yuma, and soon some officers
came for the duck-shooting. There were thousands of ducks around
the various lagoons in the neighborhood, and the sport was rare.
We had all the ducks we could eat.
Then came an earthquake, which tore and rent the baked earth
apart.
