Show while feazier there Is no need to mention the name of his regiment here that Is a secret that belongs to the army alone suffice it to say that his comrades are proud of his name he should never have entered the army at all much less a hard riding cavalry regiment which had a deputa alon to sustain by a yearly tribute of broken necks and collar bones his proper vocation was that of a linen draper s assistant and he had filled that occupation very satisfactory till one evil day he had fallen in love with a girl a silly shallow girl at whom no practical man or boy would have taken a second look he adored her and she adored sol diers in their walks abroad she would direct his steps toward the horse guards or wellington barracks that the might gaze in admiration at the fine strapping soldiers who were to be seen there and every time she pinched his arm and exclaimed oh jack look at that lovely soldier his heart gave him a pang at the thought that he was only a draper s assistant with nothing in common with the military but the handling of red cloth he was a breann by nature and tall ing in love did not lessen his weak ness in this direction dreaming Is pardonable in a poet but an able crime in a linen draper s ass st ant and as he stood at his counter his mind was tar away from his work in stead of listening to the forward of the he could only hear the short flung word 0 command and the blare of the bugles that sounded through his dreams wherefore it was not long before he came into conflict with his practical chief A few sharp words passed ha threw up in three seconds a position it had taken six years of hard unremitting labor to at tain then he enlisted he gained his title on his first dis play in the riding school where after a short ride on the neck of the riding master u pet buck lumper he turned deathly pale and cried aloud that he might be allowed to dismount the horse at once gratified his desire by throwing him on to the tan where be lay trembling in ever limb much to the diversion ota couil of rough riders who were standing by they were quick to inform their respective squadrons and hs former occupation being known he was promptly carl bened white fearer in those dark days it was the joy of the more hardy recruits to take him aside solemnly and request the service of three pence three farthings worth of white feathers any morsel of down or fluff that might float into the barracks was promptly captured and presented to him with due ceremonies by trumpeter pipes the low comedian of the regiment the older men forbore to join in with these somewhat tiring repetitions of a stale joke they remembered their own aces in the riding i school and that white feather was a quiet and inoffensive fellow devoid of the impudence and bad manners peculiar to recruits and respectful and helpful tio hig seniors the sergeant instructor too after a time took a fancy to his timid recruit and took extra trouble to teach him how to keep his heels out his hands down and his head up I 1 ve made smart cavalrymen out 0 bigger duffers than you he used to remark encouragingly as he flicked white feather s horse into a canter and make a rider you or break your neck white feather s neck remained unbroken so it Is to be presumed that the sergeant instructor fulfilled his word presently he began to lose the hang dog look of suppressed terror with which he had been accustomed to enter the riding school and to acquire the easy swagger of a cavalryman his chest contracted by long hours at the counter developed under healthy train ing fresh air and much exercise helped white feather s development which had been sadly retarded by the heavy gas laden atmosphere in which he hadi lived his nerves acquired tone and he learned to take a tumble now and then as a matter of course and to fire his cat bine without shutting his eyes and blanching at the explosion of the cartridge blow me if he isn t going to shape into a man at last the ser geant instructor then a great blow tell upon him he received one morning a letter from the girl to tell him that she had given him up in favor of a who had expectations ot being set up in business by his father she admitted that she had adored soldiers and that she had caused him to enter the army for her sake but she had j omitted to state that the soldiers she adored were soldiers who possessed the queen s commission and who wore stars instead of a worsted stripe it poor white feather was a physical coward he was a moral hero there Is no chance of a display of feeling in a barrack room so like the spartan i boy of old he hugged his trouble to him slipping the cheap little engage ment ring with which be had sealed his troth into his pocket without a sign beyond the twitching 0 his white lips then he lit bis pipe with the letter not out of contempt but because there is little accorded in the correspondence that comes to the bar rack room and a private soldier is not 1 provided with a desk wherein to keep I 1 his faded flowers and other tal tokens of the past the blow was a very heavy one tor white feather was without the world ly knowledge that should have told him long since that he had fixed jus affections upon a vulgar selfish aal brainless flirt and he still believed in her for her sake he had learned to come his physical cowardice he had dreamed of a possible commission in the dim future and had rejoiced in the recently acquired promotion as a step toward her for her sake too he received the news cheerfully when the word passed through the barracks that the ment was ordered to south ataka to meet the boers he knew that he was by nature a coward but for the mem ory of her he swore an oath to him self to do his duty without sparing himself in the coming fight look ere old chap we ain t going to call you white feather no more said trumpeter pipes as they lay to gether behind the shelter of a large boulder bowlder against the face ot which the boer bullets were pattering like a heavy rain in full sight of the whole army their squadron had crossed the boer front amid erf bullets which had brought 20 men to earth white feather s horse had been shot under him and at the risk of his life he had carried the wounded trumpeter into the shelter of the boulders bowl ders he was unhurt but trembled aa every limb from fear and great exertion prom between two boulders bowl ders he peeped out and saw amid the bodies of men and horses that littered the plain a wounded man crawling on his hands and knees amid a spatter of bullets that were kicking puffs of dust from the dry earli all around him it was his captain white feather watched him tor a moment then he saw him stop and lie down on his side despairingly he could crawl no more I 1 will for her sake he murmured between his clenched teeth and rising from the shelter of the rock he faced the hall of death that pattered to the earth around him As he walked into the open a faint cheer reached his ears from the brit ish troops halt a mil behind him the royal artillery backed him with shrieking flight ot shrapnel which whistled tor a moment overhead then burst over the boer lines a quarter of a mile away in a shower of bullets that for a moment quelled the storm around him he reached the wounded man lifted him on his back and returned step by step to where trumpeter pipes lay hidden the trumpeter gave him a faint bravo as he staggered and tell with his burden into the kindly shelter ot the rock that was white feather s reward on a distant hill the british commander shut his field glasses with a snap tell the general to keep down the fire on he right there and get those men in from behind those boulders bowl ders he said to his aid and bring me that man s name it he Is alive tell him that I 1 saw it all and that im going to recommend him tor the cross never saw a finer show of fire discipline in my added the commander to himself as his aid galloped off white feather s eyes glistened as be received the message and heard the cheer hat swept along the lantt a he was carried in perhaps I 1 shall get that commie slon after all he said to himself then she will think more of me perhaps it was just as well that he died five minutes later this faithful worshiper of a goddess of clay |