d he, being very much embarrassed, said he did
not know, but if patient waiting was of any avail, he believed he might
win his bride.

After we had been at Whipple a few days, Jack came in and remarked
casually to Lieutenant Aldrich, "Well, I heard Bernard has asked to be
relieved from Ehrenberg.

"What!" I said, "the lonely man down there on the river--the prisoner
of Chillon--the silent one? Well, they are going to relieve him, of
course?"

"Why, yes," said Jack, falteringly, "if they can get anyone to take his
place."

"Can't they order some one?" I inquired.

"Of course they can," he replied, and then, turning towards the window,
he ventured: "The fact is Martha, I've been offered it, and am thinking
it over." (The real truth was, that he had applied for it, thinking it
possessed great advantages over Camp MacDowell. )

"What! do I hear aright? Have your senses left you? Are you crazy?
Are you going to take me to that awful place? Why, Jack, I should die
there!"

"Now, Martha, be reasonable; listen to me, and if you really decide
against it, I'll throw up the detail. But don't you see, we shall be
right on the river, the boat comes up every fortnight or so, you can
jump aboard and go up to San Francisco." (Oh, how alluring that sounded
to my ears!) "Why, it's no trouble to get out of Arizona from Ehrenberg.
Then, too, I shall be independent, and can do just as I like, and when
I like," et caetera, et caetera. "Oh, you'll be making the greatest
mistake, if you decide against it. As for MacDowell, it's a hell of a
place, down there in the South; and you never will be able to go back
East with the baby, if we once get settled down there. Why, it's a good
fifteen days from the river."

And so he piled up the arguments in favor of Ehrenberg, saying finally,
"You need not stop a day there. If the boat happens to be up, you can
jump right aboard and start at once down river."

All the discomforts of the voyage on the "Newbern," and the memory of
those long days spent on the river steamer in August had paled before my
recent experiences. I flew, in imagination, to the deck of the "Gila,"
and to good Captain Mellon, who would take me and my child out of that
wretched Territory.

"Yes, yes, let us go then," I cried; for here came in my inexperience. I
thought I was choosing the lesser evil, and I knew that Jack believed it
to be so, and also that he had set his heart upon Ehrenberg, for reasons
known only to the