The Red Cloud chief., 1889-05-31

I&@
ZONE NIGHT WE WERE SITTING q HERE"
neal by; this gave me tho chance to ask q
question:
II suppose over there II your headquar-
ters most Of the time, SAM"
mo, sir! There's Just where You dom
hit it There has not been q drop Of that 60
into my mouth since tho day I promised
her."
It was q neat house. with . good, old col
ored servant, I was taken to and I enjoyed
my supper with the old sergeant and the
boy, and then, In the moonlight. on that
Memorial Day, he and I sitting alone.
enjoying q pipes, old C0l0r-Sergeant Sam
told me his story:
when we left tho service, Colonel, I
having neither kith o kin, came out here
with Leftenant Foster, he needed me to
help hold him mp In one way, and I surely
needed him to hold me of from some of my
wa E,1.u
member, on his leave of absence about q
year before we left. 60 W. both went to
work to fix up this place for the wife and
little one. and l worked square and honest,
though I still took my grog mighty regular,
and was mighty fond of it, too
when we got all things hero ready for
inspection and review, then the Leftenant
he starts down to st. Louis to get his
back pay and final settlements and to bring
the wife and baby home. He had some
money of mine, and before he started he
gave It to me, and all that money and most
of my time I spent 1t that tavern you see
over there.
"You know what I am, Colonel, when I'm
on the loose, and l guess I got that time
worse than ever, having NO commanding
officer whatever, and I kept 1t up, day and
night, until I was crazy - . hoss In . barn
. fire.
II didn't have any idea Just when the
Leftenant wa coming homo. and 70 ono
night ~ I came rolling back hero. full
n I could hold to my hack teeth, I spied
through the window . man moving about
in tho front room:' twasn't an instant be-
fore I was in there and had him In my
grip. / raised him up and was Just about
to bring him in one smash ON the fl00r
when something -somebody all In whfte-
kin OF flOated to my side and laid . hand
on my arm.
"'Sam, Sam, It IL your Leftenantv that u
what I heard. and . child could have fin
tshed me then
you've heard mon say, sdr, how they
sometimes wished the earth could swallow
them that's how I felt SO little, % brave,
Just laid the Leftenant down and turned to
60 away forever.
"'Sam, come here with mo-come to your
room, she said I obeyed better than over
did even your orders. Hr; but I didn't dare
to look at her. You see she knew me from
what he had told her, and her grand heart
could forgive all that
II went to my bed and she brought me
my tea, and soup, made by her own hands,
and abe sat BY me and talked to me - NO
one else ever talked, nor could talk to mo
neither preach nor scold It wasn't-honest,
friendly, loving falkland she told me how
I had saved her husband for her, and how
he loved me and she loved me-and,
Colonel, It fetched me bad, fetched me ev-
cry way. and she wen and brought in .
wee Dit OF . babby, and she says: Sam, I
rant you to look after and care for this lit
tie Sidney as you did for his fatheE and you
must promise me that you will, for I trust
you. fam
"And, sir, I did promise her then and
there, md put myself ON special duty to
carry the c0lors before that boy, to carry
them mp and square to tho front-and
that promise I have kept, and will keep to
the end of my life. 20 help me, God!
I'VE were very happy and w~ell-content
here-all but me. Isee that she was wearing
her Life out for her boy and husband, but
what could I do? TWAS not for me to speak.
Love her! / did love her-but not In the
way that men talk of loving women. What
could l b to her, but Sam! Inever touched
oven the skirt of her dresA Love was not
tho name for t.
'rShe was fading and fading away; NO one
but me seemed to notice II, but I could SEQ
II every day and hour, and I did not know
II I'd feei glad or sorry. She did not be-
long here, she wa kin to God and to HiA
and her place was above.
'Ons night we were sitting right here.
where No aro now. and b heard little Sid
give . whimper from his cot
Pm called she said. and got up and
went In.
IAN hour after I heard the Leftsnant CRY.
and jumped: We found her white and love-
y - q With the baby IN her arma,
stretched upon her bed; but she had gone
homo to tho God that loved her-to the God
she loved
1T wasn't long before he won't too; he
didn't seem to caro- % want to live alter
that and nothing could rally him, not even
the tricks Of little Sid, that ~ the peaxt-
ct baby y0u ever go. just - he's the
brigAtest boy In The world row..
'One night. The ft&ls chap was In the cot
Ia