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Show i ?" '' ij . . i By Gelett Burgess and "Will Irwin. j (Copyright, 1001, by McChirc, Phillips & j '' Co- MY NAME Is Admeh Drake. Mine ain't a story-book ynrn like yours, pai'dncr, or a taloof spooks and ; i phantoms, like yours. Tou can .( gcL away from ghosts when there's other . i people around or It's daylight, but there's 'If,' some things that you can't get away from Iln a thousand years, daylight or dark. " A fellow that I knew from the P. L. outfit loaned me a story book once by "The Duchess." that said something llko this, only In story-book language. "A woman Is the start and finish' of all our troubles " I always remembered that. It was a right nice Idea, Many and matins tho tlmo that, thinking over my troubles, l'vo remembered ihoso sentiments. Susie I Latham, that Is tho finest lady In tho White River country. she was the start I j and finish of my troubles. f '. Ever' Blnce v,c were both old enougb to 'A i i chew hav Susie and I traveled as a team. ', i Tho first tlmo that ever I shone In society -iT V.-JW It with Suslo by my side. It was y Aright gcod of her to go with me, seeing fcjfcr that I was only bound-boy to old man V Mullins, who brought me up and educated j i me, and Suslo' s father kept a store. But 5 f then we were too little to caro about 5 euch things, mo being 11 and Suslo 9. It 3? was the mum social. of the First Baptist rt ; ; church that I took her to. You know it tho sort? When tho boss 'Sunday-school man gives tho signal you clap tho stoppor J . on your Jaw-tacklo 'and get fined a cent -1 , a word If you peep. Susie know well J ' enough that. I had only 6 cents left after 3 got in. so what docs she do but go out J ' nnd Bit on tho porch while, tho talk Is , turned off. so that she wouldn't put mo S in a hole. When they paused tho grab-S grab-S bag I blew In tho nickel. I got a kid 5 brass ring with a red glass front and a J Rave It to her. I said that It was for us ( 2 to get married when wo grow up. .1 "Why Admeh Drake, I llko your gall, 4 Bho said, but she took It just tho same. -I After that Suslo was my best plrl and I 1 was her beau. I licked oVcry follow that fald Bho wasn't pretty, and sho stuck dut s I her tongue to every girl that tried to Joko I mo becauso I was old Mullins' bound-boy. I f We graduated from Striped Ttock Union I high school together That was whore I t Bpent tho happy hours running wild T nmong the flowers In my boyhood's happy 52 I homo down on tho farm. After that sho d 'went to teaching school, and I struck iirsc 5 ' Principles and punched cattlo down on old m I ' llulllns' X Q X ranch. Says 1 to myself, 6 i I'll have an Interest hero mysolf somo W . , time, and then married I'll be to Suslo If rV r she'll but namo the dny. I had only six r. ; months before I was to be out of bound f to old,Mulllns. r. Bolng a darn-fool kid, I let It go at f that and wroto to her onco In a while and A pot busy learning to punch cattle. Lord 2 lovo you, I didn't have much to learn, bo- j causa I was raised In the saddle. Thcro ; ; 7.'ero none of them hotter than mo If I '. aid havo a high school education. My I : lyes had gone bad along back while T was 1 ) in the high school, calling for spectacles. , When I first rodo In giglamps. they used ; i to Josh inc. but when I got good with tlxo ropo anil shot off-hand with tho best and jjll f took first prize for busting bronchOB tU i Fourth of July at Range City, they called 5f ' I mo the "Four-eyed Cowpunchor," and I & ". ' was real proud -of It. I wish It was all 5 ' fi"1 nlcknamo I ovor had. "Tho Hero of jo '' Pago Bridge" I wish to God 7 Tho X Q X Is aevenly miles down tho j& river from Striped Rock. Sovonty miles Tnjf t' alnt such a distance in Colorado, only L never went bnclc for pretty near two years nnd a half. Then, one- ChrlGtmos when wo wero riding fences keeping tho lino up against the snow and running tho cattlo back If they broke the wires and got across I got to thinking of tho holiday holi-day dances at Striped Rock, and says I: "Here's for a Christmas as near homo as 1 caji get, and a sight of Susie." The boss let mo off. and I made It In on Christmas eve. The dance was going on down at Foresters hall. I fixed up and took It In And there she was I didn't know hor for the start she'd got. Her hair that sho used to wear down her back nnd shining shin-ing In tho sun tho way candy shines when you pull It was done up all over her head. Sho was all pinky and whltey In the faco the way she used to be when she was a Utile girl. Sho had on a sort of pink drees, mighty pretty, with green wnsscts down tho front nnd a gnen dingbat around tho bottom, and long not tho way It was when I saw her before Sho was rushed to tho corner with every geezor In the place plied In front of her. ,T broko Into tho bunch. Everybody seemed to seo mo except Suslo. She treated me like nny other maverick In the herd. Sho hadn't oven a dance left for me. Once, In "Old Dan Tucker." sho called me out, but she'd called out cvory other tarantula In tho White River county, so there wns no hope In that. If ever a man didn't know whero ho was at. I was tho candidate. candi-date. All that winter, riding the fence, I thought and thought. I'd been so dead sure of her that I was lotting hor go. Hero was tho principal of tho high school, and young Mullins that worked In tho Rancher's Ranch-er's bank, and Biles that owned stock In , tho P L.. all after her, llko broncos after a marked steer, and I was only the "Four-eyed "Four-eyed Cowpuncher," SCO and found. And I got bluer than the light on the snow And then says I to myself, If sho ain't marrlid when spring melts, by tho Lord, 111 havo her. I'm ono of thoso that ain't forgetting tho ICth of February, 1F33. Storm over, and mo mighty glnd of It. Snow all around, except whero the lino of fence-rails fence-rails peeked through, and tho sun Just blinding. I on tho bronco breaking through tho crust, fooling mighty good both of us. Down In a llttlo arroyo, where a creek ran In summer, was tho end of my run. Away off In tho onow I saw Billy Taylor, my side-partner, waving wav-ing his hand llko ho was excited. I pounded my mule on tho back. "Tho Maine's blown up," he yells. "Tho Malno's blown up!"' "Tho what?" says I, not understanding. "Tho Malno Havana harbor wnr suro!" ho snys. I tumbled off In tho snow whllo in ohnoked mo down a bunch of Denver napors. Thcro It was. I went as loco as Billy. Beforo I got back to camp I had It all figured out what I ought to do I got to tho foreman before noon and drew my pay and loft him cussing Lickcty-spllt, Lickcty-spllt, the cayusc ho was mine got mo to tho station I figured that tho National Guard would be tho first to go, nnd I flg-urod flg-urod right. So I telegraphed to old Capt-Fletchcr Capt-Fletchcr of company N, at Range City: "Havo you got room for mc?" And ho answered mo, knowing Just how I stood on tho ranches: "Yes. Can you ralBO mo twenty men to fill my company" Ho didn't need to ask for men, thorc were plentv of them anxious enough to go, but he did need the sort of men I'd get him. Snow bo darned, I rodo for four days signing up twenty hcllaroos that would lcavo tho rough riders standing. Into Rnnge City I hustled them There we waited on tho town, doing nothing but llvo on our back pay and drill whllo wo waited, nineteen for glory and Spanish blood, and mo for glory and tho girl. Congress got a move on at last, though wo thought It novcr would, and the Colorado Colo-rado National Guard was accepted, enlisting en-listing as a body. "When wo were In camp together and tho medical inspector went around thumping chests, tho Captain gavo him a llttlo song about my eyes. "He can't see without his glasses," says Cant. Fletcher, "but ho can shoot all right with them on. And ho raised my extra mon, and he's a soldier." Tho doctor says: "Well, I'm getting forgetful for-getful In my ago. nnd may bo I'll lorgot tho evo test." Which ho did as ho said. After that was Dewey and Manila bay, and tho news that tho Colorado volunteers were going to bo sent to the Philippines, which everybody had studied nbout In tho geography, but nobody remombercd. except ex-cept that thoy woro full of Spaniards Just dying to bo lambasted. Wo got going at last, mU3tcr at JDonvor, and they gave us a Sunday off to seo our folks. You better bollevo I took an early train for Striped Rock and Susie. A hundred hun-dred and five miles It was. and tho trains running so that I had Just two hours and twenty-five minutes in tho place. Suslo wasn't at home, nor any of the Lathams. They were all In church at tho Baptist meotlng-houpe. whore I gavo her tho grab-bag ring for kid fun. I went over there and peeked In tho door. A now sky-pilot was in the pulpit, just turned looso on his remarks. Sizing him up. I saw that ho was a stem-winding, quarter-hour quarter-hour striking, eight-day talker that would swell up and bust If he wasn't allowed al-lowed to run down. In tho third row I saw Susie's hair There I'd come a hundred hun-dred miles and moro to say good-bye to her and only two hours to spare; and thcro that preacher was taking my time, tho time I'd enlisted to fight three years for. It was against nature, so' I signalled to tho usher and told him that Miss Suslo Latham was wanted at homo on Important Import-ant business. The usher was ono of the people that aro born clumsy. The darn fool.-Instead of going up and prodding her shoulder and getting licr out sort of culet, wont up and told the regular oxhortcr who was sitting up on the platform; and tho regular, ln- piuuu ui jhiliiiik mm un, iuiu uiu viaiung preacher. Tho old geezer was deaf "How thankful we should bo, my brethren, that this hopeless eternity " ho was saying, when the regular parson broko out of his high-back chair and tapped him on tho broadcloth and began to whisper "Hoy?" says the stranger. "Miss Suslo Latham," says the regular preachor, botween a whisper and a holler. "What about her?" "Wanted at home." so that you could hear him all through tho church. "Oh!" says the parson. "Brothers and sisters. I am requested to announce thut Miss Suslo I-atham is wanted at homo on Important business that this hopeless oternjty Is sot as a guide to our feel" and all the rest of the spiel. And mo feeling feel-ing as comfortable as a lost holfer In a blizzard forty kinds of a fool. She came down the aisle, looking rod and whlto by turnH, with nil tho people nocking hor way. Before I'd got tlmo to oxplaln why I did It, her mothor got nervous, ner-vous, thinking thero must bo some trouble, trou-ble, and camo trailing out after hor. Thon her kid slslor couldn't aland the strain, and followed suit. That family reunion on the porch spoiled all the ohanco that I had to see Suslo nlono, becauso when they hoard why I came and how I was going to bo Striped Rock s hero, they wero for giving me a Red CrOss reception thon and thore Only dun hniiiM mrr ilnU trnln Hrvxs I V, old lady hnd to rush mo down to tho houso for lunch and mo with tho rest of my life to cat in' But I shook her and the kid sister at last, and got Suslo alone. I tried ,to tell hor and 1 couldn't I could say that I was going to do my best and maybe dlo for my country, and thero I stalled and balked, her looking the other way all pretty pret-ty and pink, and giving mo not a word elthor way to bless mysolf with Says I finally: "And If I come back. I suppose that you'll bo married, Suslo?" and sho sayB. "No; I don't think that I'll bo married when you come back; I don't think that I'll ever marry unless he's a man that I can bo proud of." Thon she looked at mo, her big eyes filling fill-ing hor big eyes, colored llko tho crigo of tho mountains after sunset. I'vo figured It out slnco that sho wns moro than half proud of mo already me, In a clean, bluo suit, and tho buttons shiny; mo, a ton-cent, ton-cent, camp volunteer. And thon the old woman broko In with a bottle of Bllmnn'a Embrocation for use In camp. Never another chanco had I that side of tho station. Of course, slin kissed mo good-byo. but that's only politeness for soldiers. Thoy all did that. So. although It was Just like heaven, I knew that It didn't mean anything particular from hor. becauno hor mother did it nnd hor sister, nnd pretty darned near every other girl In Striped Rock, occlng that tho news about having a real hero In town had spread. Only when wo pulled away nnd I wa3 loaning oyt of the window blowing kisses, bolng afraid to blow at Suslu In special becauso I didn't like to give myself away, she ran out of tho crowd a ways nnd held up hor llttlo fingor to show me something over tho knuckle, and pulled her hand In quick as If nothing hnd happened. It was tho play kid ring that I gavo hor out of tho grab bag, to show that I was going to mnrry hor when I grow up. That was the last sight of 8trlpod Rock that I got Suslo waving at tho station as far as 1 could seo her. It made you fool queer to rldo past tho fences and tho bunch grass and tho foothills getting grayoy green with sago brush and tho mountalnn away off, all snowy on top and know that chancos were you'd never seo thorn again grayoy. 'And I won't, I won't never again. Muster at Denver, and the train, and away wo wont packed llko a herd around salt, and the towns Just black, llko a steor In fly tlmo with pooplo coming out to seo us pass, and Red Cross lunches every time tho train had to stop for water; noxt 'Frisco and Camp Merrltt. Tho first tlmo that 1 Haw this town gray all ovor llko a sago hill, mado out of crazy bay window houses with fancy work down tho front, I know that something was going skowgee, The night beforo wo wont up for our final medical examination by tho regular army -surgeon, Capt Fletcher called ma Into his tent. "Drake, how about your oyes?" says he. I hadn't thought of that, supposing that It could bo fixed the samo as it was at Rongo City. 1 told him ao, and ho said It couldn't- not with the regular army surgeon sur-geon But says ho: "You're a good soldier, and I got you to ralso my reserves. They won't Jet you In If you can't pass tho oyc test, glasses or no glasses. If It should happen that you learned a little formula that tallies with tho oyo card, you wouldn't lot on that I gavo "it to you, I suppose?" "I'm good at forgetting." Isoys. "Bum It when you'vo learned It," he says, and ho gavo mc a paper with long strings of letters on It. I learned It backward and forward, and so ono that 1 could begin In the mlddlo and go both ways. I lay awako half tho night saying It over Naked as I was born, I floated In on tho examiners for my physicals. Lungs, as thov mako them In the cow country; weight, llret-class; hoarlng, O. K. They whirled mo and began to point. Taking a. tight squint you sco better that way 1 ripped through tho formula; P V X C L M N H I can seo It yet. I could Just seo what lino on tho card ho was pointing at, and never a darned bit more. They mako that sort of a doctor In hell. Ho saw mc squint and ho bogan skipping from letter to letter all over tho card. No use I guessed and guessed dead wrong. ' Rejected!" Just businesslike, as If It was a llttlo matter llko a Job on a hay press. I went out and sat all naked on my soldier clothes mv soldier clothes that I was nevor going to wear any inore and covered cov-ered up my head. It was tho hardest Jolt that I over got except ono. Capt Fletcher hadn't any pull; he couldn't do anything. Somo of tho twonty that I rounded Into Rango City talked about striking, they wero ao mad. but that wouldn't do any good. I watched thorn sworn In next day. shuffling Into tho armory In new overall clothes. 1 stood around camp and saw them drill. 1 saw them go down the streots to tho transport-flowers in their gun-barrels, WTcaths on their hats, and tho peoplo Just whooping whoop-ing I sneaked x after them on to tho transport, nnd there I broko out and cussed the regular army and everything elso. Old Fletcher saw It. Ho wasnt soce. Ho understood. But I wish I had killed him beforo I let him do what he did noxt. Ho said: "Ho can't be with us, boys, and It oln t his fault But Striped Rock is going to havo Its hero. I am going to bo correspondent corre-spondent for the Striped Rock Leader. If wo have tho luck to got Into a light he 11 be tho hero In my plcco In tho paper, and tho man that gives away tho snap aln t aquaro with company N. Hero s tnreo cheors for Admeh Drako, the hero of companv-N!" he said. When -thoy pulled out. pooplo wero cheering them and they cheering mc. It heartened mo up considerably, consid-erably, or elso I couldn't have stood to seo thorn eliding past Telegraph Hill Into the stream and mo not thero with them. First. 1 was for writing to Suslo and telling her all about It, but I Just couldn t. I put it off, saying that I'd go back and tell her all about It myself, and I went to mooning around camp like a ghost. And thon along camo a copy oC the Leader that settled It. All about tho big feed that thoy gavo tho regiment at Honolulu, and how Admeh Drake had responded for tho men of company N CapL Fletcher was getting In his deadly work. It said that 1 was Justly popular and my ewJB-ment ewJB-ment to ono of Striped Rock's fairest daughters was whispered. It treated mo llko I was running for Congress on tho Loader ticket. I began to wonder If I saw a way to Susie. a.a After they got to tho Islands. I dragged tho cascos through tho surf and rescued a squad of company N fmdJ01" thnt was In tho Leader Tho nTght they scrapped in front of tho town. I stood and cheered on a dotachmcnt w'hen thoj faltered beforo tho foo. After thoy got to Manila and did nothing but lay around. Capt. Fletcher had mo rescue a man from a After that. I began to get next to my self, knowing that I'd havo done dcsl uj stop It at tho start and go straight back to Strlned Rock. I'd been a darned fool o put It off so long. Now I could novel-go novel-go back and face tho Jushlng. I wroto tho Captain a letter about It and ho never paid any attontlon. instead of that he sent mo back a bunch of her letters Knowing how things stood, what I was dK and what sh thought that I was doing. I could hardly open them. Thoy nu do mo foci as small as buckshot In a barrel They hinted about being proud of me-and prayed that I'd como homo alive -and 1 knew. In splto of being ashamed, that I had hor. , it Next thing, the natives got off tho reservation. reser-vation. There's whero Capt. Fletcher went clean, plumb loco Ono day tho Leader camo out with circus ecare-hcads about tho "Hero of Pago Brldgo Thoy printed my biography, and a plcturo of mc. It didn't look like mc, but It was a nlco plcturo. I'd broko through a withering wither-ing flro and carried a Kansas Lleutonant across to safety after he had been helplessly help-lessly wounded and novor turned a hair. What was I doing all that tlmo? Laying Lay-ing protty low- I was afraid to lcavo town because I wanted to keep an cyo on tho Lcador, which was coming regularly to tho public library, and afraid to got a rogular daylight Job for fear that somebody some-body from Striped Rock would como along ond sco mo. I was nearly bustfed wh.cn I intn ni.i rtr Moriran. the Indian root specialist. He gavo mo a Job as his out-sido out-sido man All I had to do was to hong around watching for slck-looklng strays from tho country. You know the lay. I told them how Dr. Morgan had cured mo of tho samo lingering disease nnd how I war, a well man, thanks to his secrets, babying them along kind of easy until they went to tho doctor Ho did the rest, and I collected 25 per cent. Striped Rock acted as though I was the Mavor. They named tholr now boulevard Drako way. Como Fourth of July, they not mo up alongsido of Lincoln- They talked about running nio for tho Assembly Assem-bly Thero camo another bunch of her lottors I had answered tho Inst lot that Cap sent, mailed them all the, way to tho Philippines to bo forwarded Just to gain time thoy were heaven mixed with boll. Tho regiment was coming back In a week, and thon I began to think It ovor and cuss mysolf harder than ovor for a natural born fool that didn't havo enough sand to throw up tho game at llrst and go homo and face tho music. It was too late thon. and I couldn't go back to Striped Rock and take all tho glory that was coming com-ing to mo and faco Susie, knowing that I was a fako. Besides I know the boys from Rango City woro liable to go up to Striped Rock any tlmo and toll tho wholo story, nnd it froze mo Inside. I didn't know what to do, but tho first thing I had on hand wnB to catch thorn at the dock and toll them all that It meant to mo and get them to promlso that they wouldn't toll. Whether I'd daro to go back and try to get Susie. I couldn't ovon think. I throw up my Job with the doctor and wont down to tho transport offlco to seo Just when they expected tho boys. Llttlo houso on tho dock; llttlo hole rooms that you could scarcely turn around in. Thoy said that tho boss transport man was in the next room. I walked In. Thore, faco to faco, was Susie Susie, plnkoy and whltoy, hor oyes Just growlair r and growing. I couldn't turn, I couldn't run, I could Just hnng tight on to tho doorknob nnd study tho floor. The transport trans-port man wont out and left ua alone. And sho nald: "Admeh Drake, what are yon?" My Inwards mc saying nothing all the tlmo. said that I was a fool nnd a thief nnd a liar I could have lied, told her that I came homo ahead of the roglmont. If it had been nny one but Suslo. But I told her tho truth, bellowed It out becauso my soul wns burned paper. "I camo out to seo you como back," sho paid, and thon: "I thought that I could bo proud of you." Never anothor word sho said, and sho nevor looked at mo again, but she threw out hor hand all of a sudden and something some-thing dropped. It was the play kid ring I gnvo her the night that I wish I had died. I trlod to talk; I tried to hold the door: I might as well havo tried to talk to tho wall. Tho last I saw of hor, tho last that ovor I will seo, was her molassesy gold hair going out of tho big gate. I spilled out over tho transport man nnd O God how T cried! I ain't as-'hamcd of It. You'd havo cried, too. After that r don't know what I did. I walked ovor a blggor patch of hell than any man over did alone. But the regiment's como and gono nnd never found mo, and I don't know why I nln't dead along with my ln-sldcs. ln-sldcs. And thoy mustered out at Donver, and tho boys split up and wont home. Company Com-pany N went back to Rango City cotton-woods cotton-woods shedding along the creeks, ranges all whlto on top. sagcy smell on! tho foot hills, people riding and driving In from the ranches by hundreds to seo them and cheer them and feud thorn and hug thorn but thero wasn't any hero for Striped Rock, bocauso ho hud bad eyes and was a darn fool a darn fool! |