Show M ARMY v RTIf or f A Bu Gapt Chas King 0 S tL Authored The Colonels Daughter The Deserter From the Ranks Dun f noose Ranch Ttoo Soldiers u Copyright 1890 By J 3 Lippincott Company Philadelphia Philadel-phia bysp < arrangemcnttvith themJI Not a particle sir not a particle said Martin Only you will have to excuse us We cant drink and shoot too you know Weve got to be on the rifle range in half an hour Corning Corn-ing Lee Mr Lee had risen and was about to move when Mr Schonberg threw his arm over the young gentle mans shoulders striving to detain him Kindly remove your arm Mr Mr whatever jour name may be said Lee h brows knitting and h month setting angrily I object to drinking champagne in the morning and to being embraced by strangers at any time But at this moment Mr Stone the post trader came hurrying in He looked aghast when he caught sight of what was going on Springing forward he Sprngng seized the Israelite roughly by the arm Come out of this he f Schonberg ordered or-dered You know perfectly well youve got no right whatever to come on this reservation much less in this reeraton le thi room Pray do not disturb the gentlemen M Stone said Slartin We will gladly vacate in their favor Dont you attempt to put me out of here Stone shouted the Jew I know you I know what Pm about You just touch me or let anybody else hero in th dd cowardly hole and youll see whatll happen The three officers had silently left the room and were now quiody walking away from the building but at the sound of a scuffle Lee stopped short Here ho said those men are drunk and may do harm We mustnt leave Stone i the lurch Whats the trouble queried Mr Hearn who had been inspecting the dinner din-ner of h troop and now came hurrying down the slope from the barracks At th very instant too Schonberg came backing out of the club room door shaking shak-ing his fist at Stone who silently and t ig h ft Stne sienty yet threateningly followed and Schonbergs voice was shrill with rage Behind them both h hands in the pockets of Ms spring overcoat saying not one word but glancing quickly about from man t man followed Mr Abram of Chicago ChicgoM Hearn said Stone you were here before I came and you know this man were not the orders given that he should never again show his face on the reservation and that he should be put off if he came Exactly answered Hearn And the sooner you leave it now Mr Schon berg the better it will be for you Im minding my own business he called it peeznez you mind yours Maybe you think rye forgot you bIll ut b-Ill show you Tve had it in for you ever since four years ago young feller > and just you keep away now and dont you interfere or youll catch it where you dont expect it nil give you thirty seconds to get in that buggy and drive off Mr Schon berg was Hearns reply Unless you want t be hauled out by the guard you will start at once It isnt the first time Ive found stirring insnbordina Ive you strg up inubordna tion here Schonberg reached his buggy but kept up his furious language His com panion still silent scrambled in his restless eyes wandering from face to face The thirty seconds were well nigh gone when the Jew aided by Stones supporting arm lurched into h set and picked up the reins Shaking the whip over Stones head he shrieked s that a could hear By Gd you may dink youve heard the last of disdis outrage but you J see youll see If you dont get roasted J for dis dare aint any newspapers in dis country I got your name down four years ago Mr Second Lieut Hearn and now by Gd joull see And then with an angry lash of his whip upon the flanks of his startled gar + Schonberg with h companion dove rapidly down the road past the stables < As they turned the corner Mr Abrams drew from his overcoat pocket a fat note book and glanced back over his shoulder t a significant smile CHAPTER V 1 ate II r 1 rAt r w l 2 I At la Kenyon spoke Com Her when youre as old as I amA am-A group had gathered that afternoon over near the hospital Corp Brents symptoms were all indicative of concussion of the brain and cncon bri though the surgeon said there had been no fracture of the skull he was fearful that fatal consequences might ensue Among his comrades of the infantry battalion the young soldier was by long odds the most popular and beloved man in the ran and that he should have been shoud hve bee slugged > a they expressed it in the discharge 1 of his duty by some scoundrel of a cavalryman cavalry-man was developing a very ugly fee h LnS at the post Murphy and Scanlan had been sent t Coventry among their own comrades for having lent a willing ear t the le of the tempter and so led on 1 So the tragedy that followed CoL Morris had ordered that Gross should be confined in a cell apart from K r the ordinary prisoners but when te ordna proners confronted con-fronted with the array of a dozen garrison gar-rison malefactors neither Murphy nor Scanlan was able to fix on any one i pf them the who accosted the tem a man acostd them f t night of the tragedy and gave them drink at the southwest gate Goss was like him in size and beard they said but that was all that they could assert It was enough however to prompt some of the infantrymen on guard to scaring the prisoners life almost out of him He piteously implored the officer of the day at his next visit not to keep him there the dough boys he said had sworn they would lynch him if Brent died and again and again he declared himself innocent and the victim of some conspiracy When Cal Morris was in formed of the threat he decided to seethe I see-the man t the neighboring town and the custody of the civil authorities that j f he might be tried by their courts in the event of a fatal termination to the cor I ponds injuries but waited until afternoon after-noon before issuing the orders in the case caseMaj Kenyon who had taken a deep interest in Brent for some months past 1 and who had recommended him to study for a commission was just coming from the hospital ward whenMr Hearn pass ing by the sad faced group of soldiers who were chatting at the steps came quickly forward to meet the field officer 1 How does he seem now major I had intended coming earlier but was de tamed Just holding his ow I wouldnt go in if I were you Hearn I think footsteps only worry the doctor now There is no great change men he kindly I kind-ly spoke a the little knot 1 of soldiers respectfully re-spectfully saluted and looked inquiringly at him He has a good fighting chance yet with his splendid constitution We can only hope for the best Come on + Hearn I want to ask you something Whats this I hear about your having trouble with that fellow Schonberg I Oh I had no especial trouble major He was out here drunk I sould say and had got that man Welsh of my troop drinking so the fellow was insubordi nate again and the officer of the day ordered him confined Then Schonberg j it seems went into the club room and after he had been treating the men t beer in the bar insisted on treating to champagne and introducing himself to several of the officers who were there Stone came in and ordered hiuvout and when I happened along hearing the noise he appealed to me as to what the orders in his case had been and as I knew that he had been kew forbidden even to come on the reservation I told him if I he didnt go and go at once I would send some of my men to escort him Of course he was very violent and abusive > but I paid no further attention to it j < Dn that villain said the major He has done more to demoralize the L men in this post than all the tough and gamblers in the community combined Our fellows have got to know him so thoroughly that the best class of them at least steer clear of him entirely but there was a time when a great many ° r them never went to town without get ting drink or money at his place and l having ward t pay very heavily for it after t wardOh Oh I knew him well the first winter I ever spent here said Hearn He was clerk in the sutlers store then fid l it was just before I leftthat he was di s charged by his employer who is dead now Then he came prying around the barracks j at night j bringing liquor to the men and gamblers out with Mm from tow playing in the noncommissioned i officers room fleecing them so badly I I that they finally complained and then the order was issued that he shouldnt be permitted on the reservation at al He had a friend with him today whom he was showing around and whom he insisted on introducing Martin says he I called Mm Abrams from Chicago j Abrams I dont knew anything about him but the mere fact of his being here with Schonberg is enough to make me look upon him with suspicion They were having a confidential talk with your man Welsh Im told Now what do they know of him Where have they met him before I cant say major he was in the captains household brigade and it is only recently that I have had anything to do with Mm Of course he has been in and out of town a dozen times the past month bo he never lacked opportunity oppor-tunity The doctor tells me you had to haul him out of the barroom by the coat collar col-lar and that he threatened and abused you Take my advice Hearn dont ever touch a soldier no matter how wrong he may be You should have called for a file of the guard if he would not obey I had no authority over the guard > gar major and I had over Welsh I simply stepped inside collared him and marched him out into the sunshine Then Capt t Brodie came AhJ heres the colonel They had turned into the quadrangle at the moment and came face to face with the post commander who followed I by his orderly was crossing the green parade swinging his cane in the nervous I and energetic way peculiar to him I Mr Hearn he said in his quick almost al-most gruff manner the officer of the day tells mo he has confined Welsh of your troop for insubordination and for threatening you and that he had been at the store with some men from town who were forbidden the reservation > You know the men Im told Only one of them s I knew that stationed Jew Schonberg here the first winter I was Well Capt Brodie says he also used threatening language toward you What does it mean What could he have 1 to threaten you with Nothing sir answered Her promptly At least aud now the hot blood seemed bounding to his temples at least nothing that I have any fear of He i a blackguard and I was ut terry inexperienced when I came here so that he got me into some embarrass I ment i money matters at the time I was settled long ago and I have no idea what he thinks he can trump up now He used to b clerk and attendant at the store here when old Brainy Yes yes J know said the colonel impatiently It f odd that you young 1 gentlemen will put yours ves In the hands of such people Now that fellow I has been kept off the reservation an I these years yet here he comes again because I be-cause he seems to think he has a hold on I you and dares to disobey orders as a consequence I I protest colonel said Hearn flush I ing hotly I in wise hoty am no responsible for his actions You can have the details de-tails of the trouble he gave me at anytime any-time and I can show you the papers that long since ended the matter He has no hold on me sir whatever And the young officer stood before his commander com-mander looking both grieved and indignant indig-nant at the imputation conveyed in the latters words I Well well Mr Hearn I do not mean i to say that he has any ground only you L young gentlemen cannot be too careful I about your associates Contact with L such canaille a this must defile you just a much as pitch Now Maj Kenyon how is Corp Brent Thus having the last word and having hav-ing conveyed to the young subaltern a distinct sense of rebuke Col Morris J abruptly intimated Ms desire that noth ing further should be said on the sub I i ject S long a he chose to transfer his attention to Maj Kenyon the commander com-mander could of course prevent further remonstrance but as Mr Hearn stood I there in evident readiness to resume his own defense and as the colonel knew very i well that he had hardly been fair to him since Hearns character had been most b I exemplary ever since his joining the I regent Ms better nature told him I that he ought in further words to let the young fellow down easily as the army expression goes For reasons of his own Cob Morris did not wish to unbend I however in presence of the infantry major his second in command No sooner had he finished his inquiries than he turned toMr Hearn again j i I do not mean to say sir that any reason exists for that mans threats only that I consider it most unfortunate that I you or any young officer should ever have put himself in the power of that class of people I Hearn would have retorted but for n moment he could not find wordsat once respectful and convincing The colonel having delivered this final volley from his entire line now promptly retired be i fore the other side could rally and as though covered by the smoke of his own fire tramped away across the parade leaving the two officers gazing silent Y after him The orderly with hand to cap visor sprang briskly past the pair and stalked away in the wake of his cane twirling commander i At last Kenyon spoke Come Hearn i when youre a old as I am youll not > fret yourself over glittering generalities like that Every colonel I suppose is full of wise saws and modern instances 3 and must shoot em off occasionally Ill l be just a full no doubt if I live to be a colonel It has taken me thirty years soldiering to get out of company duty f and the Lord only knows how long it wi be before I can swap this gold leaf for the silver Come along man Im going to Lanes a moment to ask the la dies to drive t town this evening and theres nothing like the women folk to help one out of the grumps There they are on the piazza now the women not the grumps And by the powers yon der comes young Lee in his riding boots to ask Miss Marshall to try a canter But Hear shook his head I cant go now Im all upset by this thing major By heaven isnt it enough to make a man swear that a low cad like that can come into his daily life and poison the ears of his friends and associates with slander and innuendo and that I have to listen in silence to such rebuke as that the colonel gave me Well thats what you get for being in the army my boy Three days ago J you were taking issue with me at Lanes because I said if I had my life to live > over again the army was the very last profession Id seek in this country vel and you thought you loved it Heres Lane now he continued as the gray eyed captain strolled up and laid his hand kindly j on the young officers shoulder Im trying to pull Hear out of the grumps Lane Haul him along with us or hell be hel doing something desperate You remember how enthusiastic he was three days agoloved his profession > would rather be a soldier than a railway magnate wouldnt swap his commission for a million in the four per cents Fetch him along And between them half laughing > half sympathetic the two officers con voyed their junior toward the shaded veranda where were seated Mrs Lane Miss Marshall and other lades busy with their needlework and needework probable gossip Mss Wharton was of the party and there were two or three callers They had noted the colonels soldierly figure as he tramped across the parade and were quick to see the two officers coming along the gravel walk Mrs Lane hal rose and smiling brightly bade them enter Forage caps were raised in ac knowledgment and salutations exchang l ed but the trio hung outside The ma jor by this time was talking vehemently Lane was looking grave and anxious The same perplexed expression was on his face that had been noted at the breakfast break-fast table when reading that letter just before Miss Marshalls entrance the day before Hearns face was clouded How can they encourage Maj Ken yon to be dilating on his pet hobby n petulantly exclaimed Mrs Graves He is j the most i pessimistic cynical prosy old crank in the whole service and will bore them t death There now hes backed them up against the fence and there is no hope for them Do come inhere in-here 1 out of the hot sunshine Maj Ken yon you can harangue all you like here just as well But Kenyon paid no attention at-tention to his fair comrade of the infant r For years the women of the th foot had made common cause against him despite the fact that he was one of their most devoted admirers When Mrs Lane again called to them to come in and sit on the veranda however the captain calmly took his two friends by the elbows and steered them through the gate Another moment and the ladies were settling back in their seat and the major had the floor Yes Mrs Lane I am u crank as my good friend Mrs Graves has doubtless told you I have reason t be and the cranks wound up today Your husband and Hearn here have been combating my views about the desirability of the army as a vocation and I crave your pardon shoprm Miss Marshall for talking Tm deeply interested Maj Kenyon1 responded that young lady Go on I beg of you Well my views are founded on long experience and not the very pleasant 3St I say and I say it after years of reflection reflec-tion that the more a man may love his a r f I profession the better a soldier he i the niore jealous of the honor and reputes ton of his cloth the less can he afford to take a position in the army of the United States Why Why because the great mass of the people have no conception whatever of the duties that devolve upon us of the life we lead of the trials we encounter I time of peace they think they have no use whatever for an army and declare de-clare that we do nothing but loaf and drink and gamble They are taught to think so by the press of our great cities and never having a chance to see the truth for themselves they accept the views of their journalists who really know no more about it than they do but do not hesitate to announce as fact what exists only in their imagination Ever since the war these attacks in the papers have gradually increased from year to year Now my home is in Chicago and naturally I read the natrly Chicago papers pers I was five years tramping scouting scout-ing skirmishing all through Arizona and Wyoming without ever seeing the inside of a city or even of a railway car We lived < on hardtack and bacon and what we could pick up when we couldnt get them We lost many a good soldier in Indian battle during that time and at last I got a wound that laid me up and sent me home I hadnt seen the place in seven i years My boyhood had been spent there Dozens my relatives and old schoolmates school-mates lived there and I looked forward L with pleasure to the rest and joy I should I have at the old firesides I didnt suppose sup-pose that people really believed all the outrageous flings The Times and The News and The Sun and The Herald let alone The TradesUnion Gazette and I The Arbeiter Zeitung had indulged in at the expense of the army But I had to wear my uniform for three or four days about the old home and not only street boys but grown men respectably dressed jeered and hooted at the dress that for years in the Confederate south and all over the frontier had never been treated with insult Old schoolmates patronizingly asked me over their card tables at the clubs what on earth I could find to do with myself in the army and why I didnt quit it and come in here and try to be something You know perfectly well Lane that when you were recruiting in Cincinnati you had just such questions put to you and you had been through one campaign after another for years The general manager of the Midland Pacific every mile of whose road through the Sioux country I and my men hal helped to build by standing off the Indians In-dians day after day and having many a sharp fight doing itthis general man alter I say mot me at the Union League and asked me how I had managed to kill time on the frontier and remarked that it must be a very demoralizing life Ho < was out next day in a circular cutting down the wages of some twenty thousand employes 10 per cent but thought the rank and file of the army were treated rather like dogs by their superiors A man h ° said must bo at the lowest ebb of self respect to enlist in the army as though every one of his army of twenty thousand hard working hard slaving men was not infinitely more at the mercy of a single official than could ever happen in the army of the United States M y own people by Jove were so impressed by what they hud been reading for years ia the papers of army life and army officers that they were perpetually urg I ing me to quit the service and come in and begin life over again at fortyfve clerking or something Why only ten years before their homes had been rescued from the mob > after police and militia had been whipped to the winds only by the prompt rush Of tho regulars from the frontier Oh > they lionized the shoulder strapped autocracy then and for just about one week it wasnt fashionable for a decent paper to lampoon them butihe moment the danger was over their gratitude fled with their anxiety I toll you the papers pa-pers that are sold for two and three cents in our big cities have to pander to the prejudices of the masses to keep alive and there is no surer way of tick ling the palates of the populace than by ridiculing or abusing tho army officers and in lending themselves to this the editors of course influence tho judgment of people of a much better class the great middle class so to speak of the whole nation It isnt at all so where I come from interposed Hearn promptly CAt homo all my kinsfolk are proud of my being in the army CAh youre a southerner Mr Hearn and your people are all Americans All through the north however we have an immense foreign population that has fed from tho Old World to escape mili tury duty They hat the very sight of a soldier Threefourths of the people of some of our big cities are of foreig birth or parentage The papers seek their patronage and in truckling to them northern Aineri they prejudice norther Aer cans against their own friends and relatives rela-tives who have been idiots enough to become j their defenders It was bad enough before the war God knows but its j worse now People wonder how it was that it took the north with 3000 000 soldiers so long to subdue the south with less than a fourth that number Now I see nothing to wonder at what ever The south 8 tas always respected the j profession of arms the north has always al-ways Cerided it Lee with 60000 vi Americans at his back and only 60000 knocked 60000 out of Grants overwhelming over-whelming forco between the Rapidan and the James Lees 60000 had the love of ever southern i heart to sustain them How many of the north think you had no personal interest in that struggle How many thousands of the north today care i nothing whatever for that flag and the major pointed to the standard i floating over the garrison and only ask to be let alone to make money their own way God knows im as loyal a Union man as ever lived but I dont like to think of the new generation that has sprung up in this country all soldiers sol-diers in the south all what in the north And old Kenyou flushed almost breathless paused and mopped his brow with face a silk handkerchief a red a his faceThere There was silence a moment Capt Lanes kindly features wore an expression half grave half quizzical Hearn had edged around nearer where Miss Marshal Mar-shal was sitting and that young lady had dropped her dainty embroidery in her lap and was listening attentively Something in the gravity of her demeanor de-meanor gave Kenyon encouragement Now you Miss Marshall are accustomed tomed to social circles in the north Tel me frankly now did you over hear men prominent in civil life express anv other I r1 I opinion ofthe profession of an army officer I i offi-cer than that it was rather a useless dawdling and unworthy occupation In peace times I Presume I ties presue you mean major In peace times certainly though the necessity for its existence then is as great geat You recollect what Washington said I time of peace prepare for war I confess that men who lead narrow lives in business or professions and never get beyond the groove are apt to say something of what you suggest major But men who think and travel especially especial-ly those who have visited ou frontier come back with feelings of much admiration admi-ration for the army officers and men Then Ill rest my case with the men who think and travel said Ream laughing laugh-ing brightly Come you old cynic dont make me believe I have no friends outside my profession when it professon sometimes some-times seems a though I hardly had one in it itNow Now there you go Hearn interrupted I inter-rupted Kenyon Thats just exactly where youre wrong You would trust II to the few traveled and educated men but what are they among the mass of voters who know nothing of the army I but what they read in the papers Do you ever see anything good of an army officer in any paper until hes dead I Never unless its something put in by a newspaper soldier and God save me from more of them What could your thinker aud travelers do even if they would condescend to bestir themselves in our behalfwhich they dont as against the masses and the press No j paper in the land is so low but what it I can hut and sting you How I should like to know How Simply by printing any low I scandal at your expense and no matter j what your record or your character may have been no matter how damnable a lie may be asserted of you the mass of the people will read and believe and your natural protectors the generals and the war department will call upon I you to defend yourself against even anonymous assault You do not mean that major d ° I you asked Miss Marshall I do emphatically I have seen officers I cers time and again compelled to report I I to division or department headquarters that they were innocent of allegations made press by T nameless scribblers ir the diy I In most cases there was no truth whatever in what was said in every case however the officer was compelled by his superiors to establish his innocence inno-cence By heaven Ill never forget our experience in 7 We were ordered too lose not an instant in reaching to-o The strikers had sidetracked the Ninth on one road and blocked the cavalry on another line and when we stopped for water the railway men attempted to leave us there I put Lieut Nairn with a small i guard at the engine and kept the strikers off using no force saying not a word making no reply to jeers and insult in-sult but the leading paper came out next day and denounced Nairn and me as being armed ruffians declared we were both reeling drunk and gave most outrageous details of things that never ers happened Of course as army officers were the targets of this abuse the ar tide was copied in eastern papers Nairn wa man who never drank a drop had a magnificent al record was a genes al ofcer of volunteers and a gentleman hOlorel throughout tho whole service I All the same he and I were com peled to submit written denials to de partment headquarters and all the satisfaction itar isfaction wo ever got was that the editor said his reporter had perhaps been unduly un-duly influenced by the prejudiced statements state-ments of the strikers Why hadnt this occurred to him in tho first place Why dint he know that these men furious at being thwarted would say anything to revenge themselves after we had gone on our way He did but because just such sensational articles would make his paper sell among the masses and b kee caue ho knew that where the army fof fiver b4 lone friend ho had a score of enemies that was enough for him Now that tad I host of similar experiences is why I say that no son of mine shall ever take up so thankless f profession Of course if the country were in danger the Hex assailed ho would fight a I would As for me Tin too old a dog to learn new tricks and having lived my life in the service I must die in it And again the major paused for breath You think Im an extremist dont you Lane he finally asked Perhaps so major although I admit that the press has bsen most unjust but I think we have more friends among the people than you give us credit for Not one bit of it You think the press knows better now and wouldnt do dom it all over again Thats what Hear here would say Now you mark my words gentlemen so few are our friends in this country that is in the north at least j either in the press or the public that j any story at the expense of an army ofcer would be eagerly published by almost 1 al-most any paper in the land and used as a text by hundreds of editors all over the nation to warrant a vicious stab at our whole army and the people far and wide would eagerly read and even those > who declared they didnt believe it would be influenced I cant think our people are such fools j as to believe yarns that are evident ly j manufactured malign said Hear stoutly Everybody ought to low that it is from deserters or dishonorably discharged men or low camp followers that tho reporters get their scandals Ought to know Yes I admit it I have no doubt that the managing editors who publish the things do know but the people dont And now what ha been your own experience Hearn How can you blame the people for believing what they read in the papers when not an hour ago your own colonel who knows you well > virtually rebuked you because of the vicious ravings of as unprincipled a cad as there is in all Kansas And Georgia Marshall looking up i in surprise saw the quick flush that leaped to the young soldiers face t 1 CHAPTER V Fred what did Maj Kenyon mean by his reference to Mr Hearn and some I story about him asked Mrs Lane that evening as the captahi was locking flip after their guests had departed Miss Marshal who was glancing over a photograph I pho-tograph album closed it and rose as though to leave the parlor No dont go said Capt Lane promptly I was sorry that gee yon made any reference to the matter but since he did I want you both indeed I tin Her told me because he wanted you bothto know all about the affair He had never mentioned it to me nor > to I t1 e I < t any one I fancy before because reeve was no need It was all settled sometime I some-time ago but of course he felt sensitive about it Ho I was a green young lieutenant lieu-tenant when he joined here six years ago This Jew Schonberg was clerk at I the antlers The officers dealt very largely with him then for town was not us accessible a it is now F f II Y 1 r I L ll s l f t l 4 l f IMl I 11 i I t aL 1 It if g 1lii i l I i J jl lj t J l 1 11 i 1 f J1iil 1 I I il I < 4 1 t 1 1 Z T r 6 Q i1 r I Y f l r I jtfy God those papers arc gone The former post trader was a jovial kindly sort of fellow who was much liked by everybody but he left his books and Ms business in the hands of Schonberg I have often heard how open handed he was with his money and how officers and men too never I j j I had to go to any banker or scalper if j i they needed money for an emergency I Anything a friend of his wanted was at his service Hearn began a a good many boys of his genial temperament are apt to do at a big and expensive post got in debt for everybody wants to I give credit to young officers just start I j ing and then the bills come in all at one swoop afterward Old Cheery as they I used to call Drains saw Hearns trouble and insisted on lending him money out t I t i of Ms own pocket It wasnt a sore i i matter at all it wasnt entered on I I Hears account He paid it back in in I I stallments to the old man himself or was doing it when he received his promotion I pro-motion and had to make the long and I I expensive journey to Arizona Except cadets when first joining officers f offi-cers are not paid advance mileage They I i i must raise the money as best they can and it is mighty hard on a young leu tenant I ten-ant Old Cheery of course advanced 1 I Hear another two hundred dollars The frt a paid all but fifty of it and he told the boy when ho left that ho had taken a big liking to him and that he could just return that at his convenience conven-ience but Hearn never lost a day after getting to Ms new post and obtaining his mileage but bought a draft for two hundred dollars and sent it to the old man at once and said in his letter that he would remit the balance of the account ac-count and his store bill just a soon as rspossible Old Cheery was a man who I never wrote letters but Hear got a din 0 I I from his wife saying that Mr Brine had received his pleasant letter with its inclosurp and sent his best wishes I A few months afterward the old man suddenly died fhe widow moved to I enly town a new trader came and took the J i i storeand when Hear his next remittance remit-tance of fifty dollars to tho widow he was l surprised in the course of a few months afterward to receive what purported to I be a statement of his account with the estate of Thomas Braine deceased a sore bill amounting to over a hundred dollars and no less than five hundred dollars in borrowed money He wrote instantly to a friend at Fort Ryan to see i i the widow and have things straightened out Ho protested that his store bill could not be more than forty or flit y dollars that old Braino had lent him two hundred dollars at one time which he had paid back to him all but fifty and two hundred more when he went to Arizona which he had instantly repaid 1 so that the total amount of his indebtedness indebt-edness could not exceed one hundred dollars But t 1 widow said she didnt know anything about it Mr Schonberg had kindly taken charge of all her affairs and he had the books and everything and all the correspondence f cor-respondence and knew all about it Hear J of course refused to pay anything s any-thing but the hundred dollars Then they threatened him with legal proceedings J proceed-ings and next they importuned him through the war department which jut as old Kenyon says believed the blackguard black-guard and called on Hearn for an ex planation It nearly drove the young fellow mad He was proud and son si five He couldnt y at to think of the 1 publicity and scandal He had never given Braine any receipt for the money obtained from Mm never had asked any for the money repaid He was too honorable hon-orable to deny the fact of having bor rowed the money yet had nothing to show tho old man being dead for the j money that he had returned I had heard something of Ms trouble but was oseordered east on recruiting service jut then and began to get into troubles of my ow for it was there I met this young woman And the captain with eyes that belied his words turned fondly to his wife The next thing I heard of Hear the matter had all been most fortunately orssettledthanks to one of ou old cap tains who it seems had known both Schonberg and the widow Brine He took the matter up and the Jew was glad to drop it Even Hearn does not how what hold he had on them but t it was settled then and there Hearn paid a hundred dollars and Schonberg I am told had to pay the lawyer whom he had employed I often think though how hard would have been the young fellows fate if there had been no one 1 to come to tho rescue There isnt a better or braver officer in the Eleventh today than Hearn and he is just as steady asa as-a rock but soldiers a good a he have been driven out of the army for lack of some such friend as camp to him in Ms extremity I You would hare helped Mm Fred dear said M Lane fondly cross ing j i over to the captain and stroking the I grizzled stubble about his brows as though it were the loveliest hair in the I world Lane possessed himself of the soft white hand and threw Ms arm about her shapely waist I would certainly had I known bn nine out of ten do not happen to be able to help even when our inclinations would lead And then however muuh we believed in Hearns story and Sc bon bergs rascality who could prove i Who did prove it asked Miss Marshal Mar-shal after n Dense Wen no one that I know of All w J know is that Schonberg was glad to drop I the matter three years ago when Capt i I Rawlins first tackled the case Hearn says he has never alluded to it from that time to this until the fellows language today but that was only some vague drunken threat But if on the contrary it should prove that ho meant to make more trouble trou-ble for Mr Hearn asked Miss Marshal J i Capt Rawlins hereBy I here-By Jove exclaimed the captain starting suddenly to his feet his face growing a suddenly grave and sad that possibly explains the letter that came to me yesterday morning I was reading it a you coma down to breakfast break-fast a low anonymous thing and I burned it Now I wish I had kept that About Mr Hearn was it asked Mrs Lane anxiously Yes and now I can begin to understand under-stand it too Miss Marshall said he r turning impressively toward her your f question goes to the very bottom of this case The friend who blocked their game three years ago is gone Rawlins was zona killed in tho last campaign A zonaOh Oh Fred cried Mrs Lane And was there no one else who had helped Mr Hearn No one but our old Rawlins Mabel and of a men to help him now he would have been the most valuable here with our new colonel for he and Morris had been devoted and intimate friends in war days and am told the colonel was deeply cut up by the news of Rawlins death There was something romantic about their early friendship Capt Rawlins was a widower whose wife had died within a few years of her marriage and I have heard that both he and Morris when young officers were in lovo with her but that she had chosen Rawlins But Capt Lane said Miss Marshall whose thoughts seemed less fed upon the romantic than upon the practical side of the case surely Mr Hearn has receipts full for this amount I so understood him Miss Marshall and yet I do not know the nature of the f papers to which he refers I Think he said that ho had her letter but that is of less value now And why asked Miss Marshall berg Because the widow married Schon Then must tho Jew lie merciiu3 n quoted Miss Marshall And for a few moments not unother word was spoken It was that young lady herself who broke the silence I Perhaps you think me unduly apprehensive appre-hensive Capt Lane That mans face I made a powerful impression upon me when I saw him today and perhaps Ma bel has told you something of my own I experience in trying to retrieve my fathers I fa-thers fallen fortunes when he was too old and broken to do anything for himself him-self I learned then the worthlessness of spoken words and that nothing but written contracts and receipts were binding bind-ing She had hardly ceased speaking when the gate was heart to swing on its rusty hinges a resolute step creaked across the piazza and somebody was fumbling at the bell knob Who can that be at this hour of the f night asked Mrs Lane as the captain j went to the door The bolts were drawn 1 back and a rush of cold night windswept wind-swept in causing the lamps to suddenly flare and smoke Please sir i the doctor here a voice was heard to ask No answered Lane Whats wanted want-ed He left here about twenty minutes ago Have you been to Ms quarters Yes sir and they told me he was here at Capt Lanes Corp Brent is took worse sir and tho steward thinks the doctor ought to see Mm Hes wild like and raving lke rvng r label dear Ill be back i a mo ment said Lane reappearing at the parlor door Dont wait for me Im going to see if the doctor is at Hears They went away together Corp Brent is reported worse Throwing his cavalry circular over his shoulders Lane stepped forth into the night It was moonless and pitchy dark The lamps around the quadrangle quad-rangle were burning brightly but hard ly sufficed to illumine more than D small sphere in the surrounding gloom Across tho wide valley a distant ruddy spark showed where some farm home c stead was still alive and far away t K the westward the electric lights swing ing high over the thoroughfares of the thriving tow shone with keen cold luster and were mirrored in some deep unruffled pool of the stream Turning his back on these the captain trudged briskly down the walk the hospital at tendant < following and opened the lUg gate some fifty yards from his OW A he surmised the doctor was here for Ms voice and Kenyons too could be heard before Lane tapped at the door Come in shouted Hearn in answer to < the signal and tho captain entered You are asked for at the hospital doctor They say Brent is delirious At th the medical man dropped the cigar he had but half smoked and left the room Lane was for going with Mm but Hearn begged him to stay No time like the present captain and I want you to see the paper in the cele brated case of Brains vs Hearn while Maj is here Ill 1aj Kenyon Il beg Mrs Lanes pardon in the morning and not detain you more than a minute Standing against the wall in the midst of what had been old Blanvelts sitting room was a plain wooden table with a pigeonholed desk upon it the lid of which turned dow made the writing shelf I tho pigeonholes were numerous numer-ous folded papers well filled envelopes packages of tobacco a brier root pipe a pair of shoulderstraps several pairs of gloves some fishing tackle some carte devisite sized photographs a damaged saberknot and the inevitable accnmula ton of odds and ends with which D subalterns field desk is apt to be lt toned But the pigeonholes had been quite systematically labeled There + were compartments bearing the legends letters unanswered letters answered an-swered personals bills paid bills unpaid both impartially occupied etc pay accounts maps field notes I never knew the necessity of having some sort of system about these matters until after tho experience I have been telling you of captain and I am indebted in-debted to dear old Rawlins for it You never met him did you Maj Kenyon No except just for a moment in the Shenandoah valley dung the war He was commanding h regiment then Yes and lived t be shot down in cold blood by a lot of ambuscading Apaches nearly a quarter of a century after and notMng but a captain of cavalry a ITO BE CONTINUED t ti 1 < |