Frank's Ranche; Or, My Holiday in the Rockies: Being a Contribution to the Inquiry into What We Are to Do with Our BoysMarston, E. (Edward)
General
Frank's Ranche; Or, My Holiday in the Rockies: Being a Contribution to the Inquiry into What We Are to Do with Our Boys
Marston, E. (Edward)
Rocky Mountains -- Description and travel
If I were writing a book of travels I should perhaps be tempted to tell
you of all our little adventures in crossing the Atlantic. We had many
small troubles which at the time we thought large ones; but why should I
record such every-day occurrences? There was a time when we would have
given "a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren ground—long
heath, brown furze, anything." We had quite enough of the rough to
remind even the best of us that, when rolled and tossed in "the roaring
forties," "we're all poor creeters"—and again, we had enough of the
delightfully smooth to satisfy us that perhaps we are not such "poor
creeters" after all. We reached New York only ten hours after the usual
time.
One little story may be worth telling. On the fifth day out, when the
westerly gale had partly subsided, but while the weather was still muggy
and cold, I had been sitting on a rickety chair next to what seemed to
be a bundle of rugs. When I got up, a gust of wind tilted the chair
rather roughly against the bundle, and I then observed that it began to
move. I immediately turned to apologize to this living and moving
bundle. A pair of bright blue eyes peeped out, and a pleasant voice
explained to me that my unmannerly chair had been no inconvenience at
all. The bright eyes and pleasant voice were, as I soon found, the
property of a charming young lady, with whom I had a long chat, and we
soon became very good friends. Stress of weather had kept her a prisoner
below, and this was her first appearance in the upper regions. I, as you
know, am only an old "buffer," but my friend and travelling companion M.
is a bright young spark, with a heart like a tinder-box, and when he
came round and I had introduced him, he was at once smitten with the
charms which had gradually unfolded themselves from the rugs. Soon
afterwards my friend M. introduced (though I think with somewhat jealous
misgivings) another young acquaintance; and this fine fellow at once
fell a victim to the fascinations which had already fluttered M.'s
susceptible heart.
It was amusing enough to such an old fellow as I to watch the antics of
these young people. We supped together, and we paraded the deck. When we
reached New York, our hotels being within a stone's throw of each other,
we frequently met.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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