The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1886-06-03
VERY well by.hisself for the rest Of the

very we'll by hisseH for the rest OF the
night" <&sS - - siiss5t5ssza,
Now, assoungiB iBartholomewwas suffer
ing EonzSa severe attack Of Inflammation
of the lungs; th ere was; othing further to
be said; therefore, with a Yery+bad word,
the aldscolonel banged down his window,
notseven condescending to dismiss the
regiment, and, while the orderly was hesi-
tating whether to take that responsibility
upon himself, one of the mrn broke into
hearty laugh.
Up went the window again.
"Ah, ah, my.flne fellow, I'll teach you
to laugh on the other side ofyour mouth
the colonel rosred.t "Mr. Mordaunt, let
the regiment be ready, in full marching
order, in half an hour"
Full marching ORDER at in the morn
ing, with the thermometer at ten degrees
below zero, and snow q foot deep. on the
ground In two minutes that barrack
might, with. reason, have been Aikened to
pahasmoniunl;s such o cursing, such q
swearing; in truth;linE the space of five
short minutes.you might have heard as
great variety of oaths as would have
served to fill this volume: such hasty
blacking.ot boots, such "a polishing of hel-
NETS, such groanings over soiled gloves
and facings, which there was no time to
clean, such u hurrying, such scamper-
ing of orderlies to apprise the married OIL
GERS living in the town, snch rouslng or
whole streets to find the married men
living out of barracks, such a grooming
and stamping, and kicking of sleepy,
frightened horses, such a plunging and
slipping and neighing, until, at last, they
were ready to start.
All through the town! Such fiinging
up of windows; such thrusting out Of
sleepy heads to know if an enemy had sud-
denly invaded the country; such wonder
as the loud strains Of @Auld Lang Syne"
and "The grill left behind me" rang out
upon the frosty air; such bitter tears OF
sweet, little modest maidens, who did not
like to appear en- demi toilette, and made
sure the brave Eighth were off for active
service Ut least, such hurried mental foot
ing up of unpaid bills! ~
Then out into the country! Rousing the
inhabitants of village after village, and
making them wonder if the queen was
dead, that the soldiers made so much fuss.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven long,
slippery, dismal, miserable miles by a
round which brought them back through
the town again, 'vhare the worst was to
come. A good nile from the town clouds
quickly drifted across the moon, and the
snow began to fall again in heavy, blind
ing wreaths; several horses suddenly be-
come utterly unmanageable and frantic,
lashing out every minute when they were
not stumbling, and stumbling when they
were not kicking; one fell breaking his
riders leg in two places in the fall;
second came down couple of hundred
wards farther on, smashing a fore-leg horrl-
bly,; third ran his heed bang against
lamp-post, tumbliug over rs dead as q
door-nail; at which another terrified ami
nal made a clean bolt Of it, and tried to
Jump house, with the result of turning
somersault and landing in the gutter with
broken back, jerking his rider off, with,
happily, no more serious injury than
couple of broken ribs.
It was ghastly nights work, and, truly
morning light rose upon n ghastly sight.
Three gallant chargers lay stretched stllf
and stark upon the trampled, blood
stained road; two hospital cots were fllleo
that before had been empty; anger and
disgust was on every face, well-nlgh rebel
lion and mutiny in every heart.
Among it all Col. CrevecGur stalked,
gr.m, silent, vigilant, like on nvenging
spirit-a mighty big spirit for such very
trivial misdemeanor.
In due course the story was waited to
Headquarters, with what effect never
transpired. The dignity and the authority
of q commading officer must be kept up,
of course; yet many in the regiment sus-
pected that when not many weeks later
Mai. Forde was gazetted to
the command of the regiment,
vice Thomas Creveceur, resigned, the re-
tirement had been politely compulsory.
So he passed out of the regiment which
he had ruled SO long with rod OF iron,
and with hfm-with one exception-passed
away the. last Of the old race Of martinets.
j. s, Winter.