"Poor girl, poor girl--and I am to break the news to her!" The doctor who had been called in, a shock-headed, spectacled German, looked at him, first from under his glasses, then over them, and at last through them. "Aha!" he said, with evident satisfaction, catching at Luke's words, "now we have it. It vas a voman who made dis misfortune, after all." "A woman"--Luke repeated, softly; "yes, but her name was Sylvia." _CROSSING THE ARIZONA DESERTS._ HEAD-QUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF CALIFORNIA, } SAN FRANCISCO, CAL., March 11, 1868.} MY DEAR MADAM:--The next steamer for Wilmington is advertised to sail on the 14th, but as she is not yet in, her departure may be delayed a day or two. I enclose letters to the commanding officers of Drum Barracks and Fort Yuma, and am, My dear Madam, Truly yours, E. N. PLATT. It was my intention to visit quite a remote part of Arizona; and, although an officer's wife, having no personal acquaintance with any of the officers stationed in the Territory, the letters the colonel gave me to the commanding officers of both these posts, through which I should have to pass, were very acceptable. As I was quite alone, the commanding officer of Drum Barracks was particular to give me reliable people for my long journey. Phil, the driver, was a model, and in many respects a genius, while the two soldiers--who had been in the hospital when their comrades had started for Arizona, two months before, and who were sent by the post commander to protect "Government property" (the ambulance)--were attentive and good-natured, as soldiers always are.