The place was
but a stone's throw from us, and the uneasy spirits from these
desecrated graves began to haunt me. I could not sit alone on the
porch at night, for they peered through the lattice, and mocked
at me, and beckoned. Some had no heads, some no arms, but they
pointed or nodded towards the grewsome burying-ground: "You'll be
with us soon, you'll be with us soon."
CHAPTER XXII
RETURN TO THE STATES
I dream of the east wind's tonic, Of the breakers' stormy roar,
And the peace of the inner harbor With the long low Shimmo
shore.
* * * *
I long for the buoy-bell's tolling When the north wind brings
from afar The smooth, green, shining billows, To be churned
into foam on the bar.
Oh! for the sea-gulls' screaming As they swoop so bold and
free! Oh! for the fragrant commons, And the glorious open
sea! -
For the restful great contentment, For the joy that is never
known Till past the jetty and Brant Point Light The Islander
comes to his own!
- MARY E. STARBUCK.
"I must send you out. I see that you cannot stand it here another
month,'' said Jack one day; and so he bundled us onto the boat in
the early spring, and took us down the river to meet the ocean
steamer.
There was no question about it this time, and I well knew it.
I left my sister and her son in Ehrenberg, and I never saw my
nephew again. A month later, his state of health became so
alarming that my sister took him to San Francisco. He survived
the long voyage, but died there a few weeks later at the home of
my cousin.
At Fort Yuma we telegraphed all over the country for a nurse, but
no money would tempt those Mexican women to face an ocean voyage.
Jack put me on board the old "Newbern" in charge of the Captain,
waited to see our vessel under way, then waved good-bye from the
deck of the "Gila," and turned his face towards his post and
duty. I met the situation as best I could, and as I have already
described a voyage on this old craft, I shall not again enter
into details. There was no stewardess on board, and all
arrangements were of the crudest description. Both my child and I
were seasick all the way, and the voyage lasted sixteen days. Our
misery was very great.
The passengers were few in number, only a couple of Mexican
miners who had been prospecting, an irritable old Mexican woman,
and a German doctor, who was agreeable but elusive.
The old Mexican woman sat on the deck all day, with her back
against the stateroom door; she was a picturesque and indolent
figure.
