To this they attached a big cow-bell, so, by
making some considerable effort to reach up and pull this wire, I
could summon Bowen, that is, if Bowen happened to be there. But
Bowen seemed always to be out at drill or over at the company
quarters, and frequently my bell brought no response. When he did
come, however, he was just as kind and just as awkward as it was
possible for a great big six-foot farmer-soldier to be.
But I grew weaker and weaker with trying to be strong, and one
day when Jack came in and found both the baby and myself crying,
he said, man-like, "What's the matter?" I said, "I must have some
one to take care of me, or we shall both die."
He seemed to realize that the situation was desperate, and
mounted men were sent out immediately in all directions to find a
woman.
At last, a Mexican girl was found in a wood-chopper's camp, and
was brought to me. She was quite young and very ignorant and
stupid, and spoke nothing but a sort of Mexican "lingo," and did
not understand a word of English. But I felt that my life was
saved; and Bowen fixed up a place on the couch for her to sleep,
and Jack went over to the unoccupied room on the other side of
the cabin and took possession of the absent doctor's bed.
I begged Jack to hunt up a Spanish dictionary, and fortunately
one was found at the cutler's store, which, doubtless the cutler
or his predecessor had brought into the country years before.
The girl did not know anything. I do not think she had ever been
inside a casa before. She had washed herself in mountain streams,
and did not know what basins and sponges were for. So it was of
no use to point to the objects I wanted.
I propped myself up in bed and studied the dictionary, and,
having some idea of the pronunciation of Latin languages, I
essayed to call for warm water and various other necessary
articles needed around a sick bed. Sometimes I succeeded in
getting an idea through her impervious brain, but more often she
would stand dazed and immovable and I would let the dictionary
drop from my tired hands and fall back upon the pillow in a sweat
of exhaustion. Then Bowen would be called in, and with the help
of some perfunctory language and gestures on his part, this
silent creature of the mountains would seem to wake up and try to
understand.
