The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1890-05-19
ODD BITS OF LIFE.

"Was l ever afraid In battle: ." said an
English army officer to q New York
Tribune man. "Many times. But there
are different kinds OF fright. have
served in India, In Egypt and in western
Africa, but the worst funk I Was ever In
was when there was no enemy within
thousands of miles of me.
~ was q captain ut the time and was
stationed at Port Royal, Jamaica. We
had just got o lot of recruits on our hands,
the rawest, greenest recruits you ever saw.
! vas drilling them in rifle practice at
long range, and had great trouble to
make them obey orders with precision.
In fact, one could never be sure whether
they would fire when you wanted them to
present, or present when you wanted
them TO fire.
~ had been sending them through a
practice one afternoon, n they were SO
terribly stupid that / got into n vile humor.
The day was fearfully warm, and the sun
beat down SO fercely that my horse, a
wicked brute, got into an almost ungov-
ernable temper, i sat oil my horse at the
right of the squad and was giving them
vOlley practice at long anR When my
patience was entirely zone the men
TO fire with rapidity n accuracy. Things
were running smoothly as ~clockwork, and
i was soon soothed into cheerfulness de-
spite the heat. Not SO my horse. He was
never more vicious.
1--WE were getting along so well by this
time that IL was Ready! Present! Fire"
and the volley would ring out like q single
report.
"OnceI cried out Ready! y and the work
was as pretty as that of veterans.
"'Presentw and every rifle went up to
shoulders IN perfect form. At the very
instant / was about to say Fire my fret
ting horse bolted, cutting directly across
squad. My eye caught the glittering rifles
leveled right at me-, and instinctively !
closed my eyes and ducked my head. II
you know what British soldiers are you
can imagine my feelings, my terrible fear,
for, as l said before, ! never before in such
a funk l knew that IL ! opened my
mouth those recruits would riddle my
pecting the word Fire." and probably
would have taken any sound for h My
desire to cry out AS you were! to get the
rifles oil my body was so great that l had
to clench my teeth to keep from crying
out. OF course the whole thing took only
q few seconds, but was man, minutes
longer than that to me.
"When my plunging horse had carried
me from before the motionless rifles, !
managed to wheel him As he came
| around I cried Fire. and every one of
those stolid men obeyed the command
with absolute precision. That assured
me all the more that had I opened my
mouth while crossing their range l should
have been a dead man, for they were not
drilled sufficiently to distinguish a differ
ent order at the last instant, and yet fol
lowed ones words with a blind fidelity.
II have often thought" added h OIL
Ger with q strange smile on his lips, "tha,
those recruits fancied / had cut across
them to test their drill, for they showed
no surprise, not the faintest sign of emo
ton when / suddenly wheeled and cried
'Firer But you may well believe tina
this was not the case. And | pledge you
that never afterward in rifle practice die
l get caught in SO dangerous and helpless
q situation"