Daily Yellowstone journal., 1890-07-22
NOT UNDER THE eNEMYS FIRE
When the RiHcs Of HE owr Soldiers
Covered Him He Was Frightened.

- N'S
Covered Him He Wa Frightened.
"Was | ever afraid In battlew said
an English army officer. MANY times
But there are different kinds of fright.
] have served in India, in Egypt and in
Western Africa, but the worst funk l
was ever in was when there vas no en-
my within thousands Of miles Of me
Il was a captain at the time and was
stationed at Port Royal, Jamaica. We
had just got n lot of recruits on our
hanas, the rawest, greenest recruits you
ever saw. | was drilling them in rifle
ysactice at long range, and had great
trouble TO make them obey orders with
precision. In fact, one could nev be
sure whether they would fire when you
wanted them 10 present, or present
when you wanted them to fire.
IL had been sending them through q
practice one afternoon, and they were
10 terribly stupid that | got into a vile
humor. The day was fearfully warm,
and the sun beat down s tiercely that
my borse, a wicked brute, got into al
NEST an u~ngovernable temper. sat on
my horse at the right Of the squad, anc
was giving them volley practice at long
ange. When my patience was entirely
cone, the men seemed to gain a little
sense, and began to fire with rapidly
and accuracy. Things were running as
smoothly as clockwork, and l was soon
soothed into cheeriulness despite the
heat Not so my horse. lie was never
more vicious.
We were getting along SO well by
this time that it was Ready. Present!
FIRE. and the volley would ring Jut
like a single report.
"0nce | cried out 'ReadyV and the
work was as pretty as that Of veterans.
Present and every rifle went up
to shoulders in perfect form. At the
very instant | was about TO say 'Fire!'
my fretting horse bolted, cutting direct
ly across the range. was not twenty
feet from the squad. My eye caught
the glttering rifles leveled right mt me,
and instinctively | closed my eyes and
ducked my head. II you know what
British soldiers are you car imagine
my feelings, my terrible fear, for, as !
said before, | was never before i'm such
q funk knew that II I opened my
mouth those recruits would riddle my
body with rifle balls, for they were ex.
pecting the word Fire and probably
would have taken any sound for that.
Ny desire to cry out, AS you were.' to
get the rifles off my body, was SO great
that l had to clinch my teeth to keeT
from crying out. of course, the whole
thing took only a few seconds, but II
was many minutes longer than that r.
me.
when my plunging horse had car
ried me from before the motionless
rifles, l managed to wheel him. As hs
came around l cried Fire. and every
one of those stold men obeyed the
commandwith absolute precision. That
assured me all the more thas had ]
opened my mouth while crossing their
,ange I should have been a dead Rn,
Tor they were not drilled sufficiently to
distinguish a different order at the las
instant, and yet followed ones word
With a blind fidelity.
II have often thought, added ths
S%facer, with a strange smile on his lips,
that those recruits fancied l had cut
across them to test their drill. for they
allowed no surprise, not the faintest
sign of emotion when suddenly wheel.
ed and cried Fire" But you nay well
believe that this was not the case. And
l pledge you that never afterward in
rifle practice did | get caught in &C
dangerous and helpless a situation."-
New York Tribune.