ore.

CHAPTER XXIX. CHANGING STATION

It was the custom to change the stations of the different companies of a
regiment about every two years. So the autumn of '82 found us on the
way to Fort Halleck, a post in Nevada, but differing vastly from the
desolate MacDermit station. Fort Halleck was only thirteen miles south
of the Overland Railroad, and lay near a spur of the Humboldt range.
There were miles of sage-brush between the railroad and the post, but
the mountains which rose abruptly five thousand feet on the far side,
made a magnificent background for the officers' quarters, which lay
nestled at the bottom of the foot-hills.

"Oh! what a lovely post!" I cried, as we drove in.

Major Sanford of the First Cavalry, with Captain Carr and Lieutenant
Oscar Brown, received us. "Dear me," I thought, "if the First Cavalry is
made up of such gallant men as these, the old Eighth Infantry will have
to look out for its laurels."

Mrs. Sanford and Mrs. Carr gave us a great welcome and vied with each
other in providing for our comfort, and we were soon established.

It was so good to see the gay yellow of the cavalry again! Now I rode,
to my heart's content, and it was good to be alive; to see the cavalry
drill, and to ride through the canons, gorgeous in their flaming autumn
tints; then again to gallop through the sage-brush, jumping where we
could not turn, starting up rabbits by the score.

That little old post, now long since abandoned, marked a pleasant epoch
in our life. From the ranches scattered around we could procure butter
and squabs and young vegetables, and the soldiers cultivated great
garden patches, and our small dinners and breakfasts live in delightful
memory.

At the end of two years spent so pleasantly with the people of the First
Cavalry, our company was again ordered to Angel Island. But a second
very active campaign in Arizona and Mexico, against Geronimo, took our
soldiers away from us, and we passed through a period of considerable
anxiety. June of '86 saw the entire regiment ordered to take station in
Arizona once more.

We travelled to Tucson in a Pullman car. It was hot and uninteresting.
I had been at Tucson nine years before, for a few hours, but the place
seemed unfamiliar. I looked for the old tavern; I saw only the railroad
restaurant. We went in to take breakfast, before driving out to the
post of Fort Lowell, seven miles away. Everything seemed changed. Iced
cantaloupe was serve