Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1886-12-04

the ditch below. She FASTENED to her room
and no one saw her again until the next
morning, when she came down dressed in
somber black, her face pale and her colorless
lips tightly compressed.
CHAPTER II.
FIRST SHOTS
All military courage of any value is the
offspring of pride and will The existence Of
what is called natural courage" may well be
doubted. What il frequently mistaken for
it is either perfect self-command or stolid
indifference, arising from dull Drained ina
billy to comprehend what really is danger
The first instincts of man teach him to
shun all sources of harm. and if his senses are
sufficiently acute to perceive danger, his natu-
raj disposition is to avoid encountering it.
This disposition can only be overcome by the
exercise of the power of pride and will-pride
to aspire to the accomplishment of certain
things, even though risk attend, and will to
carry out those aspirations
Harry Glen was apparently not deficient in
either pride or will The close observer, how
ever, seemed to see as his mastering sentiment
a certain sterile selfishness, not uncommon
among the youths of his training and posi-
ton in the slow living, hum-drum country
towns of Ohio. The only son of a weakly,
fondlng mother, and father too earnestly
treading the narrow path of early dill
gences and small savings by which a
man becomes the richest in his village, to
pay any attention to him, Harry grew up
self-indulgent, self sufficient boy.
When he signed his name upon the recruit
ing roll-largely impelled thereto by the deli
cately fattering suggestion that he should
lead off for the youth of Sardis-he had not
the slightest misgiving that by so doing he
would subject himself to any of the ills and
discomforts incidental to carrying out the
enterprise upon which they were embarking.
He, like every one else, had no very clear
idea of what the company would be called
upon to do or undergo; but no doubt obtruded
itself into his mind that whatever might be
disagreeable in it would fall to some one
else's lot, and he continue to have the same
pleasant exemption that had been his good
fortune so far through life.
And though the company was Unexpectedly
ordered to the field in the rugged mountains
of western Virginia instead of TO pleasant
quarters about Washington, there was moth
ing to shake this comfortable belief The
slack discipline Of the first three months ser
vice, and the confusion of ideas that pre-
vailed in the beginning of the war as to mill
tary duties and responsibilities, enabled him
10 spend all the time he chose away from his
company and with congenial spirits about
headquarters, and to make of the expedition,
so far as he was concerned, pleasant picnic
Occasionally little shadows were thrown by
the sight of corpses brought in, with ugly
looking bullet holes in head or breast but
these were always of the class he looked down
upon, and he connected their bad luck in
some way with their condition in life Doubt
less some one had to SO where there was
danger of being shot, as some one had to dig
bitches and help to pry wagons out Of the
mud, but there was something rather pre-
pOSterous in tn thought that anything of
this kind was incumbent upon him.
The mutterings of the men against an Off
Ger who would not share their harLlships and
duties did not reach his ears, nor yet the
gibes of the more earnest OF the officers at the
"young headquarter swells," whose interest
and zeal were nothing to what they would
have taken in a fishing excursion.
1t came about very naturally and very
soo1 that this continual avoidance of duty in
directions where danger might be encountered
was stigmatized by the harsher name of
cowardice Neither did this come to his
knowledge, and he was consequently ignorant
that he had delivered fatal stab to his repu-
tation one fine morning when, the regiment
being ordered out with three days rations
| and forty rounds of cartridges, the sergeant
b1 ipC bf,fh nod md
reported that he was sick in his tent Joseph
Pancake expressed the conclusion instantly
| arrived at by every one in the regiment:
'It's all you could expect of one Of them kid
glove fellers, to weaken when it came to seri-
GUS business
HarTy's self-sufficiency had left so little
room for anything that did not directly con-
Germ his own comfort that he could not un-
del5tand the deadly earnestness of the men he
saw file out of camp, or that there was any
urgent call for him to join them in their un-
deitaking
"Bob Benefits always going where there's
no need of it, be said to companion, as he
saw the last of the regiment disappear into
| the woods on the mountain side. "He could
have stayed back here with us Just as well as
| not, instead of trudging off through the heat
over these devilish roads, and probably get
| into a scrape for which no one will thank
him."
YES" said Ned Burnleigh. with his af-
| fected drawl, @what the DEVILS the use, I'd
like to know, for a fellahis putting himself
out to do things when there's any quantity Of
| other fellahs, that can't be better employed,
| ready and even anxious to do them"
lLrffI n .AS-
Let's 60 over to the shade, where we were
| yesterday, and have Dick bring us bucket
| Of cold spring water and the bottles and
thinos.n
"Abe" said Joseph Pancake to his file
| leader-a rsd-headed, pock-marked man,
| whose normal condition was that of out
| spoken disgust at everything-"this means q
fight"
"Your news would've been fresh and in
teresting last night" growled Abe Bolton
II suppose that's what we brought our guns
| along for"
"Yes; but somebody's likely to get killed. !"
"Well, You nor me don't have to pay their
| life insurance, us I know on
"But it may be you or me-
"The devild be mighty anxious for green
l wood before he'd call you in"
"Come, now, don't talk that way This is
| mighty serious time"
"l'll make it burned sight seriouser for
| you if you don't keep them splay feet O.
your'n often my heels when we're march
ing"