It might
be a ranger from the Pecos, or a trader from the Rio Grande, or a land
speculator from the States, or an English gentleman on his travels,
or a Methodist missionary doing his circuit; yea, sometimes half a
dozen travelers and sojourners met together there, and then they talked
and argued and described until the "night turned," and the cocks were
crowing for the dawning.
Richard thoroughly enjoyed the life, and Elizabeth's nature expanded
in it, as a flower in sunshine. What gallops she had on the prairies!
What rambles with Phyllis by the creek sides in search of strange
flowers! What sweet confidences! What new experiences! What a
revelation altogether of a real, fresh, natural life it was! And she
saw with her own eyes, and with a kind of wonder, the men who had dared
to be free, and to found a republic of free men in the face of nine
million Mexicans--men of iron wills, who under rude felt hats had the
finest heads, and under buckskin vests the warmest hearts. Phyllis was
always delighted to point them out, to tell over again their exploits,
and to watch the kindling of the heroic fire in Elizabeth's eyes.
It was, indeed, a wonderful month, and the last day of it was marked
by a meeting that made a deep impression upon Elizabeth. She was
dressing in the afternoon when she heard a more than usually noisy
arrival.
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