The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-06-11

| the Other Thfng1n It, ana began 20 take up
the next piece Of work. ann not going to
write about this 1t was too horrible. We
burned the bedstsad and dropped the ashes
into the canal We took up the mating of
the room and treated that in the same
way. 1 went of to a village and borrowed
two big hees-I did net want the villagers
to help-while the major arranged the
| other matters. It took us four hours hard
work to make the grave. As we worked,
we argued out whether it was right to say
as much as we remembered of the burial of
the dead. We compromised things by say
ing the Lords prayer with private unof-
fetal prayer for the peace of the soul Of The
Boy. Then we filed in the grave and went
into the veranda-net the house-to lie
down to sleep. We were dead tired.
When he woke the major said, YEARLY:
eve can't go back till tomorrow. We
must give him decent time to die in. He
died early this morning, remember. That
seems more natural" So the major must
have been lying awake all the time, think
ing.
1 said; "Then why didn't we bring the
body back to cantonmentss"
The major thought for minute: "Be-
the cholera. And the ekka has gone!"
That was strictly true. We had forgot
ten all about the ekka pony, and he had
gone home.
So we were left there alone, all that sti-
fling day, in the canal rest house, testing
and re-testing our story of The Boys death
to see if it were weak in any point. A ma
tive turned up in the afternoon, but we
coia hot h y 81 Ill j
he ran away. AS the dusk gathered the
major told ne all his fears about The Boy,
and awful stories of suicide or nearly car
ried out suicide-tales that made ones hair
crisp. He said that he himself had once
gone into the same valley of the shadow
as The Boy, when he was young and new
to the country; so he understood how
things fought together in The Boys poor
jumbled head, He also said that young
sters, in their repentant moments, consider
their SINS much more serious and inefface-
able than they really are We talked to-
gether all through the evening and re-
hearsed the story of the death of The Boy.
AS soon as the moon was up, and The Boy,
theoretically, just buried, we struck across
country for the station. We walked from
till O'Clock in the morning; but though
we N0FS uSdo JirSu, VIC not IOtR6G 70 10
to The Boys room and put away his re-
volver with the proper amount of cartridges
in the pouch; also to set his writing case
ON the table. We found the colonel and
the death, feeling more like muir
derers than ever. Then we went to bed
and slept the clock round, for there was
no more In US.
The tale had credence as long as was
necessary, for every one forgot about The
Boy before fortnight was over. Many
people, however, found time to sag that the
major had behaved scandalously in not
bringing in the body for a regimental
funeral. The saddest thing of all was the |
letter from The Boys mother to the major |
and me-with big inky blisters all over the |
sheet. She wrote the sweetest possible |
things about our great kindness, and the |
obligation she would be under to Us as long |
BIS she lived.
All things considered, she was under an
obligation; but not exactly as she meant
Kipping.