"Across the river! Can we ford?"
"Yes! Do you see my light?"
"No!"
"Stay where you are! I'll come over!"
A horse splashed in the river and came toward them. Suddenly, and
almost unbelievingly, out in the swirling snow Joe saw the lighted
lantern that the rider carried. He called,
"I see you now!"
"Come straight toward me! I'll wait!"
Joe climbed to the seat, took the reins from Tad, and drove the mules in
the river. They walked more briskly now, and Joe thought that no man
can, for very long, deceive a mule. They knew that their journey was
nearly over, and that not too far ahead they would find both food and
shelter. Perhaps they smelled the fort.
Out in the river, as they drew closer, Joe saw a mounted trooper holding
a lantern high. The soldier walked his horse back across the river. Two
other cavalry men waited there, and the soldier with the lighted lantern
paused beside the wagon.
"Good Lord! Who hits the trail on a night like this?"
"Had to get to Laramie," Joe explained.
"You're almost there. How are your mules?"
"Worn out."
"Follow us. We'll take it slow."
Joe followed the troopers up the trail, and the lights of Laramie shone
through the storm. Guarded by armed soldiers, the gate was open and Joe
drove through into the stockade. The sergeant with the lantern came
beside the wagon again.
"Can we get quarters?" Joe asked. "We have a sick youngster with us."
"Want to go to the hospital?"
"No!" Emma said.
One of the soldiers rode ahead, and Joe swung his tired team to follow
the sergeant. Lamp light brightened windows, and Joe halted the mules.
The sergeant dismounted.
"Here you are. Bring the youngster in."
Joe helped Emma from the wagon and into an officer's quarters, where the
soldier who had ridden ahead had lighted an already-laid fire. There
were cots and blankets, and Emma unwrapped the shawl that enfolded her
sick baby. She looked around her at the kind anxious face of the soldier
standing ready to help, at the good, stout walls of the room they were
in, at the warm fire where all the children would soon be gathered, and
at Joe, hovering over her now, wanting so much to protect her, to
protect them all. A smile of hope lighted her face.
"She'll be all right now, Joe. She needed the fire and a real rest.
She'll have it, now."
"Do you want the doctor?" the sergeant asked.
Emma said cheerfully, "We really don't need him right now. Would he come
later if she should take a turn for the worse?"
"Certainly."
Barbara entered with Carlyle, and the sergeant swung to come face to
face with her. For a moment, but only for a moment, he lost his brisk
military bearing while a delighted grin flickered across his lips. Emma
watched, and now that she was no longer under tension she could afford
to be mischievous.
"Sergeant--?"
"Dugan, ma'am."
"Thank you, Sergeant Dugan. We're the Tower family and this is our
daughter, Barbara."
"You sure are welcome, miss!" Sergeant Dugan breathed.
Joe brought the rest of his sleepy, fretful family in, and left Emma and
Barbara to put them to bed while he went outside with Sergeant Dugan.
The soldier examined the mules with the practiced eye of a man who knew
animals.
"They certainly are done," he agreed. "We'd better take them to the
stables where they can have hay and grain. The cow can go in the
corral."
Thankfully, Joe permitted the soldiers to take care of the mules and the
cow.
The Towers had come through the first portion of their journey. That
much was over now, and his family was safe and out of the storm. He
wanted to be with them, to watch them bask in the warmth of the fire, to
share with them the well-being of this wonderful, though temporary,
shelter.