"
She spoke quietly but positively. I looked on straight up the valley and
pondered. Then I put out a hand and touched the fringe of her sleeve.
"I am going to try to be a gentleman," said I. "But I wish some fate
would tell me why it is a gentleman can be made from nothing but a man."
CHAPTER XXII
MANDY McGOVERN ON MARRIAGE
Our slow travel finally brought us near to the historic forks of the
Platte where that shallow stream stretches out two arms, one running to
the mountains far to the south, the other still reaching westward for a
time. Between these two ran the Oregon Trail, pointing the way to the
Pacific, and on this trail, somewhere to the west, lay Laramie. Before
us now lay two alternatives. We could go up the beaten road to Laramie,
or we could cross here and take an old trail on the north side of the
river for a time. Auberry thought this latter would give better feed and
water, and perhaps be safer as to Indians, so we held a little council
over it.
The Platte even here was a wide, treacherous stream, its sandy bottom
continuously shifting. At night the melted floods from the mountains
came down and rendered it deeper than during the day, when for the most
part it was scarcely more than knee deep.
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