St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1885-03-05

anxious and attentive. -.
1t was poor acting on the coloners
part-himself a bacheIor-tO strike an
attitude and to talk airily to the adJu-
tant. The women were not TO be de-
ceived by such devices. The Indians,
the one dread in frontier life, we're out,
and a scouting party would be sent to
overtake them. Who would go? would
be the next question and-shame up
on the blood thirsty men who called
themselves civilized and Christians
every one of them was anxious to do
his duty to his country.
"WcH," / said to one who by martial
right had joined me, perhaps If /
begged the colonel
apo nothing of the kind. A soldier
must always cheerfully obey orders"
Especially those he fancies,' | in
terrupted. But gaining heart, and
! thus animation-''i may be yOur good
| luck to be ordered tn stay at home and
/ take care of the sick and women. Of
course '-maliciously -''a soldier is al
ways ready cheerfully to obey orders"
The suggestion was received by a
crimace which seemed to me as we'll
mcrited cuff: so thencefOrth did what
! I could TO make one soldier as com
Portable as possible for a long hot
march. For the colonel had conde
scended to relieve our anxiety by or
derinr the whole command under arms,
| except a small guard to remain with
! She maior-always fifth wheel lin
! charge of the fort. The troops were to
march in different detachments, on
different trails, in hopes of overtak-
/ inc the various bands of mounted In
dams, who were out in force. There
was but little delay i'll preparing; and
! whilst | was in my chamber packing
| NV soldiers knapsack, Elise was in
my paror making her parting with
! Arnold much harder by reprOVing his
pleadings to acknowledge their en-
| ragement. For she would have to
| Joke and seem Indifferent. whilst / had
the wifely privilege of "crying my
eyes out and she might have had
something of the same.
knew she would feel the parting
all the more for the strain she put up
on herself As for Arnold, he was so
! brave, 50 unselish, so thoughtful for
/ his men, and tender to us poor women
who had to play the hard part of wait
! ing and enduring, that he well de
served all the tears that were spent in
our parting from him. Only Elise, |
think, was dry-eyed when, an hour
| later, we all met under the live-oak for
our sad farewell.
! We were grouped together, trying to
he iocose under depression, for every
ear was strained to catch the bugle-
! call ITO horse" Heaven forgive my
/ selfish irritation with Frank Maybin,
whilst he, poor fellow, kept up run
ming fire of l0ve-making, not personal,
| but by proxy, to be repeated on fitting
occasions to Elise. was keeping
down my veXatiOn by nervous little
taps with my foot upon the ground
when suddenly | almost screamed with
| the pain felt by my foot coming sud-
denly on something hard and sharp.
\ short hunt on Franks part revealed
the cause | had struck with no bet
ter protection than IA French slipper
my foot upon cast horseshoe. There
was nothing singular in its being there,
for the tree was II common hitching
place for the officers horses, Il nail be
ing always there for the brides.
Frank held up the east horseshoe in
triumph ''Such hit of luck - he
said.
Elise took it from him, wiping it free
from dust with her dainty handker
chief. which must have been wet with
tears, for Arnold had to come to her
help. They fingered oyer the work,
their heads within whispering distance.
Frank grew restless, and regretted,
fancy. the treasure trove. 1t was Ar
mold, think, whe recalled the old SUI
perStition.
'Let us hang it on the tree, and it
will predict our fate. AS long as it
hangs, You will know we are all safe ;
but if any of us are unlucky and fall,
the faithful horseshoe will fall also"
| was about to protest against any
signs of ''luck." but RETAINED, not car
ing tn make mountains of mOle-hills.
SO amid many iestS and much laughter
capabilities of the nail to bear TIE
weight, and the horseshoe was hung
with due ceremony. We were all so
highly strung | knew that every wo-
man amongst us would watch that
horseshoe rs if it were her fate, and
they would do SO surleptitiously, not
acknowledging the superstition even
to themselves.
Then came the famila but hated
bugle sound, the fuss and stir, the
empty gayety and bravadO, OF sol
HlcFs uitIch' ANA tieh All were gone
but the major aud few iisconsolate
women, the band playing "Home
again" most dolefuIly.
We tried to be cheerful, to keep up
each others spirits. but it was dreary
work. Elise came to stay with me,
and behaved bravely. We kept our
tryst every morning under the live-oak
tree, the major ordering the band to
play as usual, and every one of us