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Show alive. "I u ill never go ever this dnadlulroad again I'cicv, .level, I would rather die in this wilderness 1 lid 11 suriei again what I have sullen d 111 ciuiiiug line. If I could hive known what I. y t-e-M m I would rather have died than started." she said that night, when they were comfortably sealed by a camp hie, w here there wae. tobeappiehruued neither dau ger from flood.bears or quicksand. and her husband almost said Amen to it. About nine o'clock, out ol the daikness came a coveted wagon, ai.d the owner, resident of the Blue Valley country.camp ed with them. I Afier a gold deal of talk pertaining to the prospects i t the Country, its capabilities capabil-ities and the cl ss of citizens alieadv withiu its borders, the little man whose name was White, asked our travcleis how they got along that day in cubing the river, Oh, pretty well," answered Mr. Mer rigold, allhougd it is very high, and I am told that it has a quicksand bottom, that makes a moments pause a danger ous thing," "Yes, and some who didn't pause have had disasters. Mv son-in-law, an Envlisi man of g) od family, bought an entire house-keeping out-fit, and loading all he could if it, started to Blue Valley, wheie I had taken up a quarter section for both ol us. Mr. Mernguld tealized with an inward groan, that another story of the usual complexion Was coming. Reflecting however, that the river with all ts dau-g-is was behind them instead ol still to te ciossed, nude no attempt to stop the nairiior. 'They d crossed most all the bad places and got out all right.allhough their load was rather heavy. You see a No, 8 cook stove, and all its fixin's, a bcx of dishes, and they weigh pretty smart; about ten hundreJ of Hour; besides their bedding and clothes and such things. "What my daughter set more store by than all the lest they had was a btx of nice things that his mother had sent them from England for a wedding present. "He was an Englishman, aud 1 thick sometimes they aie queer folks;" then giving the Merrigolds a quick apprehensive apprehen-sive look he added "especially the women folks." "Well, that woman sent them a silver I tea set, some aaade up linen sheets cf the finest Irish web, table cloths til; t were square of linen and lace, with napkins, nap-kins, to match, and a whole lot ofjim cracks like that more tit for the palace of a Duke, than the hut they were going to. lint it made other folks open their eye;, and begin to wonder if he was a prince in disguise. That old lady beyond the seas, sent that gal a complete outfit for the youngster,(begging your pardon ma'am)thatmight reasonably be expected to come to live with them in the couise of time. Well, at the very bottom was a note to say these tine things weie not to be used until such an event occuted. "In case they weie used before, 01 not used at that time her son was to be d.s-luheiited! d.s-luheiited! "I hope in case you are English you'll excuse the remaik I made, lor this act ot her's seems the most nonsensical of any thing I ever heard of. "Well those two young fools camped in a bend of the creek by the last cross ing, and on the wrong Side, She knew very little about taking caie of herself it such a place, and he knew much less." "While they were eating dii.ner, a little flocd came down the cieek, and insieadof wating for it to run olf, and even staying there all night il so it seemed best, they hitched up their team in a hurry and drove of). "They had an old mule in the team that balked just in the wrong place, and tu wagon begin to settle. He thongtu the water was getting deeper, but my gal had heard of the quick-sand and jumped out.and waded to shore, niai ag-mg ag-mg to catch a quilt aud a pillow as they floated out ol the wagon. As soon as he realized what was the matter, he out with his knife and cut the lUki, aud set his team free, and not a minute loo soon, to save them." "They lost nearly every thing that they had, poor things, it was a sad blow to them." HE HAD HIS CHOICE . by ellen jakeman. (concluded) Written for the RbgiStbr "The bovs belonging to the other team that did not come with us, told me that a peifect river poured nut of this gulch for about half an hour" said Vincent, ad-diessing ad-diessing himself to Mrs.Merrigold. "At the head of the ll jud was the wagon, still with the cover tied down tight; the tongue was broken eft. the horses separated, separ-ated, and both dead, of course. 1 hey untied the cover and there were the bodies of the three bovs drowned, and one of them still grasped in his hand a king.aud three aces." "What a pity he did not live to play that hand," remarked one of the men, solo voce. "When they did not find me with the others, they instituted a search, and were glad to find me alive. The rain subsided after that, just as th'Hign it might have been the boys it came for; and the next day we drove through this canyon, everything just as calm, and silent, as it is now, and looking as innocent as it does this minute." Mrs. Merrigold fane ed that there was a veivsinsier look about the silent walls on all sides ol them, but made uo remaik. re-maik. "It was a mighty sad load of trouble we too't home with us, I can tell you, to the motheis of these bovs. Their money and I edding and clothes were sale, only their precious lives had been destroyed." A lew drops of rain pattered straight down upon the camp fire; and the slender slen-der streak of blue sky visible before was a grey cloud now. "Don't y u think e had better be m iving?"sid Mrs-.Metiijold rising hasti-Iv.and hasti-Iv.and begining to pack the hamper with as much disregard for neatness and order, as her husband could have displayed dis-played in his most reckless moments. "This much rain don't amount to anything," said Air, Vincent, " it is the haid rains above here, on those broken ridges, and on the op of this mountain that all pour thrir united streams more or less directly into this gulch, that is dangerous. There has been moie than one flood in here when the sun was shining as bright above as could be." The men we e all hitching up bv 111 is time, and Mrs.Menigeld hurried her childiea into the watfon.and hurried her husband about harnessing the horses, until he was nearly frantic. The other teams drove oil the way the Meirigolds had come, with a frontier good by, and left the Merrigolds alone. Just as they drove olf a thin tongue of watei ciept over the rocky floor of the road like a serpent, causing Mrs. Merrigold Merri-gold to turn fairly blue with tear, and nearly faint. it was a smooth road with a down grade, "and only two miles to where they would he out of this box, and at liberty to drive on top of a hill if it was necessary; neces-sary; and vet that woman managed to makr her husband wish he was dead befure they reached the end of the two miles. That night they camped with some friends; and Mr. Merrigold, grown wise in suftermg, told the host and hostes ol his vufes extremely nervous condition; and begged them to direct their conversation conver-sation in pleasant channels. This night he slept; and happy was he tor the opportunity. It is a curious pharse of frontier life that their conversation, when intended to be most entertaining, nearly always turns into horrible and gruesome channels. chan-nels. Something tragic, dieadlul, or terrible, seems alone able to waken the interest ol these border heioes. It was well for Mr, Merrigold that he had a night of good sound sleep, lor the next day led Mem into new dangers, according ac-cording to Mrs. Merrigold. The fiver, the IJiity Devil, in whose milky waters our tiavelors met their tiist real adventure, found its way to Blue Valley by a more circuitous route than the Box Canyon: but to-day they traveled with it through a very narrow canyon, li took the liberty ol crossing this every little while, and as the canyon was very narrow the Merrigolds were then obliged to cross it. ..... By the time the water reached this stage of its journey to the Colorado,, it was so dark with floating sand, that it was as impenetrable to the eye as ink. , J It i-? really a quicksand stream, aud the lady's feats, lor the fust time weie well founded. "And a fortune too," said Mrs, Merrir gold, "according to the terms of ths will,' "Oh nofthat aint lost yet, they are waft-in waft-in till they find the things or the old lady changes her mint I; and I verily hel eve thev may wait till "dooms day for either." eith-er." It was a very pleasant place to camp, and Mr. Merrigold was delighted to find that bis wife took the tragic eposode of the river so calmly. She even laughed after they had retired, because thest an ger had given his last opinion in so discouraged dis-couraged a voice. She said it sounded sound-ed like he was tired of waiting to be a grandlather. The remainder ol the journey was com pleted without incidents worthy cl note. They settled dow n in a house somebody else had built, una their ueaiest neighbors neigh-bors half a mile away. The climate was delifehtfaT, game plenty, aud everything tranquil as a sum-mernignt's sum-mernignt's dream, Mrs. Merrigold's nerves gradually regained re-gained their tone, her cheeks their red, and her fotm its plumpness. When the months o Sojourn were end ed, and they were making preparations to bidgood-by to their kind friends and return 10 their more northern home, the past came up before her like a hideous dream. But the journey back was three days of unmixed delight; and she wondered how she could have ever been so foolish, fool-ish, on the down journey. Mr. Merrigold hailed her improved health with gladness, lor manv reasons, One was that he loved her and she was his wife.and anotl er, (though he never named it to her) was that he would be perfectly miserable tied to so unreasonable, unreason-able, and helpless a being as she hadt been when ill. Duty would have prompted him to biatow upon her every comlort, honor would have demanded at his hands the tendeiest consideration. The memory of the nea,r companionship ot other days have made hitu cling to the shadow of what had once been so dear, gratitude for all that she had been to him and done for him before the blight, would have made him true and kind but the sweetness ol his married lite would have been gone forever. And from the depths of his heart he thanked providence provi-dence that her life and health was te-stored. It had rained higher up I he day belore, and the stream was very much swollen. It was a new road, and the banks were very steep, and even when the speed was regulated, or rather tempered, by the brake, -the wagon would almost stand at right angles with the horses; and to Mrs. Merrigold it seemed each time that the wagon went into the water that her heart stopped beating until it wassalely out on the opposite bank, w. It had a quick sand bottom and if the hoises found the least difficulty in pulling pull-ing the wagon nut on the other side, and he felt it beginning to settle down, the drops of perspeiaiion would begin to suit out 011 his iorehead. His wife noted every expression of apprehension visible on his face, and so far from it having a soothing effect upon her for him to be sensible of their danger she almost went into spasms, greatly adding to the dangers ot the situation, and Mr Merrigold's difficulties. Sixteen times during that day thev crossed t,jiat stream, arid still they were He pioved himst lievery inc ; a man Dy accepting the lesson andprohtiug by it. ii you should say to him now; "Your wife is a superior woman, Merrigold;"with the taunting emphasis, that had once been so galling to him; he would reply Irank ly; "Yes I think so," and the sueer , would never touch him. He knows the difference between reason and sentiment, aud he rejoices in the lact that while his wile is devoted to h'm and their children, she is his equal in many ways, and shuuld the hand of death snatch him from all he loved.there would still be a sound mind and some business ability, as well as de- voted love, between their children and the cold and bitter charity of a selfish, world. He has his choice, and is willing that every person shall enjoy the same free dom. THE END. |