There Were Two Companies Of Soldiers, Numbering About A Hundred Men In All, Five Or Six Officers, Mrs. Bailey And Myself, And A Couple Of Laundresses.

I cannot say that we were gay.

Mrs. Bailey had said good-bye to her father and mother and sister at Fort Whipple, and although she was an army girl, she did not seem to bear the parting very philosophically. Her young child, nine months old, was with her, and her husband, as stalwart and handsome an officer as ever wore shoulder-straps. But we were facing unknown dangers, in a far country, away from mother, father, sister and brother - a country infested with roving bands of the most cruel tribe ever known, who tortured before they killed. We could not even pretend to be gay.

The travelling was very difficult and rough, and both men and animals were worn out by night. But we were now in the mountains, the air was cool and pleasant, and the nights so cold that we were glad to have a small stove in our tents to dress by in the mornings. The scenery was wild and grand; in fact, beyond all that I had ever dreamed of; more than that, it seemed so untrod, so fresh, somehow, and I do not suppose that even now, in the day of railroads and tourists, many people have had the view of the Tonto Basin which we had one day from the top of the Mogollon range.

I remember thinking, as we alighted from our ambulances and stood looking over into the Basin, "Surely I have never seen anything to compare with this - but oh!

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 60 of 274
Words from 15918 to 16193 of 72945