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Show A PAPER HERO i I ity WAiriai a. ruocToit. 1 I CofiyrlqMti, tOOi, by Tht Author Ihibltihlng Company I ' "Mornlu', Mary; 'nother letter from Fred, I 'sposo 't'as the South Africa stamp on't," said tho postman, handing hand-ing n letter to tho rosy-checked maid- I en waiting for him at tho gato in tho break of the hedge. i Mushing, Mary took It and hastened 1 to tho rosebower In tho corner ot tho garden where sho had spent the last blissful hour with Fred beforo his de- l parturo for the tront. To her it 1 Boomed a fit placo to road his letters. Sho road and re-read this particular ' letter. Then with bounding step and happy heart sho ran into tho cottago and throw it Into her mother's lap. 1 "Head It, mother," sho exclaimed. ! "What do you think? Fred's a hero." I Whllo her mother was reading tho letter, somo of Mary's girl friends camo In. "Tho postman says you'vo a letter from Fred," said ono; "do tell us tho news, Mary; thoro's a dear.". Only too anxious, Mary took tho letter let-ter from her mother. I "I'm only going to read tho news to you, girls," sho said, excitedly; i "but that's enough, Fred's a real hero. Ho's saved a who'o battalion. Hero's what ho says: I "'I expect you havo road about It In tho papers by this time. Hut there, you don't know yet. Our battalion was ordered to tako n strong position held by tho Hocrs, from which thoy hnvo been sneaking out and doing a lot ot mischief lately, blowing up trains and cutting oft transports. Wo Btnrtod out bright and early without transportation, and with only thrco dnys' rations. Wo marched until noon, when wo encamped nnd rested until sunset. Then wo resumed our march, and marched all night, In order or-der to surprise tho enemy at dawn. i " 'Wo had to cross a river to get to them. That river camo near being tho slaughtor-houso for tho wholo battalion bat-talion It was for qulto a number. The road to tho ford ran through a deep gorgo which opened into a narrow valley, val-ley, walled In by steep hills, nnd , through which flowed tho river. Wo cleared tho gorgo nnd our vanguard was already half-way across tho river, riv-er, when tho enemy oponed firo on us from tho hills on tho opposlto side. Somehow they had heard of our intended in-tended attack. Wo wero completely surprised and at their mercy. We woro In tho open nnd unprotected, whllo not a hoad ot tho enemy could bo seen. From every rock belched forth flro and bullets. In n moment all was confusion. Our colonel, a conspicuous mark for cnomlos' bullets, bul-lets, kept his wits, howovor, nnd ordered or-dered tlio battery to play on them. Hut It was no uso. Thoro was nothing noth-ing to do now but to retreat, and our colonel reluctantly gave tho order. " 'Hut no sooner had wo right-about- I WM 1 To her It seemed a fit place to read his letters. , faced than wo were met by a murderous murder-ous flro from tho hills wo had Just loft. "'"Volunteers to man tho guns," I our colonel jelled. "Pepper tho hills and cover our retreat." "'It was almost certain death to touch those guns, but I dashed for ! them nnd a dozen fellows foliow-ed mo. Nearly all were shot down before wo reached tho guns, but I shouted for others to como on, "'Tho bullets woro striding all around mo, several passed through or clothes, and ono knocked off my hat, but wo got tho guns Into action long enough to enable tho battalion to re-enter tho gorgo, whoro wo wore protected by tho rocks. How nny of us escaped Is n mystery. Wo wero compelled to leavo tho guns In tho valley, but oneo under cover of tho rocks, wo Wero ablo to provont thorn falling Into tho hnnds of tho Hocrs. " 'When night camo on tho colonel called for volunteers to savo tho guns. Again I led a few men to tho guns and brought them In. A fow doses of lyddlto cleared tho hills of the enemy and enabled our ambu-lanco ambu-lanco corps to attend to tho wounded and bury tho dead. Tho colonel com- Looked at the date of the paper. plltncntcd me and recommended mo for promotion.' "Thero, what do you think of that, girls," cried tho delighted Mary, as a vision of Fred, with her arm In his, walking along tho street, floated bo-fore bo-fore her eyes. " "Oh. do send his letter to the paper," pa-per," advised Sadie Hopkins. "Yes, Mary, do," entreated tho others. oth-ers. "Do you think thoy would print 117" sho asked. "Think? I know thoy would," ro-plled ro-plled Sadie. "Copy tho part you read to us, Mary, and send It In; It will np-pear np-pear next Sunday." And so It camo about that ono of tho foremost weekly papers of London published an account ot tho heroism of Fred Marlow, Col. St. Qucntln snt In tho corrugated corru-gated Iron shanty which served for his headquarters. Ho had Just been receiving reports, from tho blockhouses block-houses scattered along tho railway. Ho was wishing something would turn up to break tho monotony of tho situ-atloA situ-atloA nnd dispel the ennui that had crept upon him. Just then his orderly or-derly entered. "Hollo, Pomberton," ho exclaimed. "Any news? Confound It, thero Is not a Hocr In tho country, and I don't boo tho necessity for keeping us hero In this blooming country now, alternately roasting and shivering. Kitchener has them about all corralled." "No news of Hocrs around hero, colonel," replied the orderly, saluting, "but I havo somo nows from tho front by way of London." "Gad! what is It?" asked tho colonel. "Anj thing important? Not peace, eh?" "Oh, no. It's nn account of somo of our past exploits. Head that." and tho orderly took from his pocket n copy of tho Weokly News, Indicating with his finger tho part ho desired Jho colonel to read. Tho latter read tho artlclo through, looked nt tho dnto ox tho paper, and thon nt his orderly. "That's rich, Isn't it?" ho romnrked. "It's too good to keep to oursolvcs. Pass tho order around, Pomberton, to havo tho men parade and formed Into x square" "Good. Now for somo fun," soliloquized solilo-quized tho orderly, as ho started to dollvor his colonel's orders. When tho mon formed, tho colonol, standing In the conter of the square, read to thorn un account of tho wonderful won-derful achievement of ono of their nutr.bor. When ho had finlshod rnad-Ing. rnad-Ing. ho addressed tho battalion: "I fool that nn apology Is duo from no to tho bravo fellow In our ranks whoso gallant dcod has so Ims bees unrecognized. Hut tho fact is, I had I never heard of It until to-day, when I 9b read tho artlclo In this paper. How- B over, to mako amends for our past M neglect, I now call upon you to glvo M tho hero thrco hearty cheers." ll The battalion responded with three W- mighty cheers. IJ Fred Marlow was wishing the l ground would open and swallow him I |
