Tucson lay far to the south of us, and was even
hotter than this place. But there was nothing to be done; we
packed up, I with a heavy heart, Jack with his customary
stoicism.
With the grief which comes only at that time in one's life, and
which sees no end and no limit, I parted from my friends at Camp
MacDowell. Two years together, in the most intimate
companionship, cut off from the outside world, and away from all
early ties, had united us with indissoluble bonds, - and now we
were to part, - forever as I thought.
We all wept; I embraced them all, and Jack lifted me into the
ambulance; Mrs. Kendall gave a last kiss to our little boy;
Donahue, our soldier-driver, loosened up his brakes, cracked his
long whip, and away we went, down over the flat, through the
dark MacDowell canon, with the chollas nodding to us as we
passed, across the Salt River, and on across an open desert to
Florence, forty miles or so to the southeast of us.
At Florence we sent our military transportation back and staid
over a day at a tavern to rest. We met there a very agreeable and
cultivated gentleman, Mr. Charles Poston, who was en route to his
home, somewhere in the mountains nearby. We took the Tucson stage
at sundown, and travelled all night. I heard afterwards more
about Mr. Poston: he had attained some reputation in the literary
world by writing about the Sun-worshippers of Asia. He had been a
great traveller in his early life, but now had built himself some
sort of a house in one of the desolate mountains which rose out
of these vast plains of Arizona, hoisted his sun-flag on the top,
there to pass the rest of his days. People out there said he was
a sun-worshipper. I do not know. "But when I am tired of life and
people," I thought, "this will not be the place I shall choose."
Arriving at Tucson, after a hot and tiresome night in the stage,
we went to an old hostelry. Tucson looked attractive. Ancient
civilization is always interesting to me.
Leaving me at the tavern, my husband drove out to Fort Lowell, to
see about quarters and things in general. In a few hours he
returned with the overwhelming news that he found a dispatch
awaiting him at that post, ordering him to return immediately to
his company at Camp MacDowell, as the Eighth Infantry was ordered
to the Department of California.
Ordered "out" at last! I felt like jumping up onto the table,
climbing onto the roof, dancing and singing and shouting for joy!
Tired as we were (and I thought I had reached the limit), we were
not too tired to take the first stage back for Florence, which
left that evening.
