It was in October following his visit to Denver that Mr. Ramsey was called upon to go in pursuit of a couple of horse thieves. A character well known on the frontier in those days as “Dutch Pete,” and known by no other name, accompanied by a pal whose name is not known at all, one night made a raid upon a band of horses belonging to a man living in Colorado, and stampeded thirty-five head of them. When the owner awoke the next morning he found his animals gone, and was able to ascertain that the thieves had taken their booty in the direction of Smoky Hill or the Republican river. His first impulse, as he afterwards explained, was to pursue them himself, but remembering the skill and courage of Ramsey in running down such characters, he changed his mind, and went to Hayes City and put the case in his hands.
Mr. Ramsey cheerfully took charge of the matter, securing Frank Shepherd, a friend in whom he had confidence, as an assistant in the work before him, and kissing his wife an affectionate farewell, he rode off in company with Shepherd, going towards Smoky Hill with the intention of cutting off the retreat of the thieves. The two officers started off thoroughly armed and well mounted. Their horses galloped away in spirit, as if anxious to lessen the distance between the officers and their game.
Mrs. Ramsey watched the horsemen as long as she could see them, gazing even into the blank horizon after they had disappeared as if to feast her eyes as long as possible upon the manly form of her husband, so full of life and hardy manhood. She had been used to having him placed in positions of danger, and so great was her confidence in her husband’s superiority over other people in courage and coolness, that she had come to have but little fear for his personal welfare when out on an expedition like this upon which he was now starting. But, some how, she seemed to feel an unusual desire on this occasion to have Mr. Ramsey not go, although she did not say so to him, for she knew that he would attend to his duty in spite of any forebodings of hers, which he would consider foolish, womanish fear. But she gazed longer and earnestly after him, and at last when she knew that he had gone for good, had turned to go in the house, exclaiming, “Oh, pshaw! this is foolish. I know he will come back. He always does, doesn’t he?”
She thus dismissed the matter from her mind as completely as she could, and went about her household duties, making herself as busy as possible during the day and as far into the night as she could find anything to do. As a consequence of this over exertion Mrs. Ramsey slept soundly upon going to bed. Everybody about the house had retired either before or at the time that she did, and all were by midnight busy with their dreams. They were, however, at this hour startled into a thorough state of wakefulness by a scream which rent the air, and which came from the direction of the room of Mrs. Ramsey.
The entire household was astir in a moment, and all rushed pell-mell into Mrs. Ramsey’s apartments. They found her out of bed in her night clothes, and her two children, one of them a mere baby, clinging to her. She was talking in an incoherent manner at the top of her voice and the children, thoroughly frightened at their mother’s manner, were crying loudly. The inmates of the house succeeded in a few moments in quieting the woman down, and at last procured an explanation from her. “Such a horrid—horrid dream!” she exclaimed. “Oh, I know it’s true! I saw it—just as plain as day—plainer than I see you—just as real and terrible as if I had been there. I just know that Alex is dead. I didn’t want him to go. I tried to the last to see him. I never in my life so longed to beg him not to go. I wish I had. I believe he would have stayed with me. But poor, poor fellow, I shall never see him again, except in death.”
CHAPTER LXIV.
MORE OF MRS. RAMSEY’S DREAM—SHE STARTS TO FIND HER HUSBAND AND FINDS HER HORRID VISION VERIFIED—A TWO AND TWO FIGHT, WHICH RESULTS IN THREE DEATHS, MR. RAMSEY BEING ONE OF THEM—A DESPERATE DEED WITH TERRIBLE RESULTS—MRS. RAMSEY LOSES HER MIND AND SOON FOLLOWS HER HUSBAND TO THE GRAVE.
Mrs. Ramsey, after this raving narrative, became more quiet and told the people standing about her that she had dreamed that she had seen Mr. Ramsey and Mr. Shepherd come upon the horse thieves and attack them; that the thieves had started to flee on their horses; that the officers had followed and fired upon them, the thieves returning the fire. Three men had fallen almost simultaneously from their horses, two of them being the fugitives and the third her husband, who had been fatally shot. Her dream had continued so as to take her out to search for her husband with the hope of meeting him upon his return. Instead of meeting him alive and well she had encountered a covered wagon, which she described, bringing in his dead body, seeing which she had screamed so loud as to awaken herself and others asleep near her.