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Show A DRIVE FOR LIFE. 73 still, and I thought, if this is time, what is eternity? But I anticipate, as they say in books. "The fact of our husbands being both in Denver, formed a strong sympathetic link between us, and the hope of meeting them inspired us with courage to undertake the hazardous journey. . " For the first four days out we lingered with a train of ox teams. Picturesque Indians with feathers in their hair, would crowd around us, begging for whisky and swearing in pure English. They are famed for adding to their list of accomplishments a readily acquired Billingsgate vocabulary of unrivaled opulence. "A kind friend, thoughtful of protecting my complexion on the plains, made me a lavender barege sun-bonnet, lined with pink, and finished with a long skirt; they were greatly in vogue in those days. I could but laugh when an Indian, regarding it as a curiosity, snatched it from my head, placed it on his own, and went galloping over the plains, performing wild and dexterous evolutions with the long gauzy skirt of the bonnet floating around his head like a cloud. "Ten days after we left Atchison the telegraph wires were cut and the operators deserted their stations. We met men on horseback, who rode wildly from ranch to ranch, heralding the news of savage warfare. They told us that the Indians were on the outbreak back of us-we could not retrace our steps, so we left the ox teams and pushed forward. I stopped at Fort Kearney and asked for an escort, but was gruffly refused; I thought there must be a pharmacy at the fort, and I asked where I could get medicine for my sick child; but received no answer. I said, my husband wrote that he would send money and |
