Newport and Bassett are passed, but they are only mere stations, and not worthy the name of town. The Indian has left our company for that of the train-men, and as Mrs. P.'s husband is a merchant, and she is prospecting for a location for a store, she and the agent, who seems quite pleasant, find plenty to talk about. There, puffing up grade again! and the jerking, nodding and shaking begins. Mrs. P. holds her head, the agent tries to look unconcerned, and as though he didn't shake one bit, and I just put my head out of the window, and watch the country.
Saw three antelope running at a distance; are smaller than deer.
The land is quite level, but we are seldom out of sight of sand-hills or bluffs. Country looks better and more settled as we near Long Pine, where several of the colonists have located, and I have notified them of our coming, and there! I see a couple of them coming to the depot to meet us. As the sun has not yet hid behind the "Rockies," we proposed a walk to Long Pine creek, not a mile away. The tops of the tallest trees that grow along it, tower just enough above the table-land to be seen from the cars; and as we did not expect to stop on our return, we made haste to see all we could. But by the time we got down to the valley it was so dark we could only see enough to make us very much wish to see more. So we returned disappointed to the hotel, to wait for the regular passenger train, which was not due until about midnight. The evening was being pleasantly passed with music and song, when my eyes rested upon a couple of pictures that hung on the wall, and despite the company about me, I was carried over a bridge of sad thoughts to a home where pictures of the same had hung about a little bed, and in fancy I am tucking little niece "Myrtle" away for the night, after she has repeated her evening prayer to me, and I hear her say:
"Oh! auntie! I forgot to say, "God bless everybody."
The prayer is repeated, good-night kisses given, and "Mollie doll" folded close in her arms to go to sleep, too. But the sweet voice is silent now, "Mollie" laid away with the sacred playthings, the playful hands closer folded, and the pictures look down on me, far, so far from home; and I leave the singers to their songs while I think.
To add to my loneliness, Mrs. P. says she is afraid to venture to Valentine, and I do not like to insist, lest something might occur, and the rest try to persuade me not to go. I had advised Lieut. Davis of my coming, and he had written me to telephone him on my arrival at the depot, and he would have me conveyed to the Fort immediately.
But better than all, came the thought, "the Lord, in whose care and protection I left home, has carried me safe and well this far; cannot I trust Him all the way?" My faith is renewed, and I said:
"You do not need to go with me, Mrs. P., I can go alone. The Lord has always provided friends for me when I was in need of them, and I know He will not forsake me now."
Mrs. P. hesitated, but at last, gathering strength from my confidence, says:
"Well, I believe I will go, after all."