The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-06-22

4
| thing that kicked the beam IN the bows
mind was a remark that woman made
when he was talking TO her. There is no
use in repeating it, for 1t was only a cruel
! little sentence, raped out before thinking.
that made him flush to the roots of his
| hair. He kept himself TO himself for three
! DAYS, and then pat in for two days leave
| to go shooting near canal engineers rest
| house about thirty miles out. He got his
| leave, and that night at mess was noiSier
| and more offensive than ever. He said
| that he was 'going to shoot big game"
| and left at half past 10 o'clock In an ekka.
| Partridge-which was the only thing
man could get near the rest house-is not
big game; 50 every one laughed
| Next morning one Of the majors came in
! from short leave, and heard that The Boy
| had gone out to shoot "big game" The
| major had taken an interest In The Boy,
! and had, more than once, tried to check
him in the cold weather. The major put
up his eyebrows when he heard Of the ex-
petition and went to The Boys rooms,
where hs rummaged-
Presently he came out and found me
leaving cards on the mess. There was no
one else IN the anteroom-
He said: 1.-THE Boy has gone out shoot
ing. Does a man shoot tetur with 10
volver and q writing case"
I said: Nonsense, majorP' for / saw
what was in his mind.
He said: Nonsense or no nonsense, Pm
going to the canal now-at once. / don't
feel easy"
Then he thought for minute, and said:
"Can you lie?"
you know best" answered "It's my
profession"
VERY well" said the major; "you must
come out with me now-at once-in an
ekka to chs canal to shoot black buck. Go
and put on shikRr kit-quick-and drive
here with gun"
The major was a masterful man, and /
knew that he would not give orders for
nothing. So obeyed and on return found
the major packed up in an ekka-gun cases
and food slung below-au ready for q
shooting trip.
He dismissed the driver and drove him
self. We logged along quietly while in the
station; but as soon as we got TO the dusty
road across the plains he made that pony
fly A country bred can do nearly any
thing at pinch. We covered the thirty
miles in under three hours, but the poor
brute was nearly dead.
Once l said, whats the blazing hurry,
major?"
He said quietly: 1.-THE Boy has been alone,
by himself for-one, two, fve-fourteen
hours now. | tell you, | don't feel easy"
This uneasiness spread to me, and /
helped to beat the pony.
When we came to the Canal Engineers
rest house the major called for The Boys
servant; but there was no answer. Then
we went up to the house, calling for The
Boy by name; but there was no answer.
"Oh, he's out shooting" said l.
just then | saw through one of the win
dows a little hurricane lamp burning.
This was at in the afternoon. We both
stopped dead in the veranda, holding our
breath to catch every sound; and we heard
inside the room the ''brr-brr-brr'' of
multitude of flies The major said nothing,
but he took off his helmet and we entered
very softly.
The boy was dead on the charpoy in the
center of the BARE lime washed room. He
had shot his head nearly to pieces with his
revolver. The gun cases were still strapped,
so was the bedding, and on the table lay
the boys writing case with photographs.
He had gone away TO die like poisoned
ratl
The major said TO himself softly: "Poor
boyl Poor, poor devilr' Then he turned
away from the bed and said; II want your
help in this business
Knowing The Boy was dead by his own
hand, saw exactly what that help would
be, so | passed over to the table, took
chair, lit cheroot, and began to 90 through
the writing case, the major looking over
my shoulder and repeating tc himself:
I'VE came too late Like rat in a hole
Poor, poor devilr'
The Boy must have spent half the night
in writing to his people, to his colonel and
to girl at home; and as soon as he had fin
ished must have shot himself, for he had
been dead a long time when we came in.
l read all that he had written and passed
over each sheet to the ma or as l finished
it.
We saw from his accounts how very seri-
ously he had taken everything. He wrote
about disgrace which he was unable to
bears ndelible shame'-'criminal fol-
ly''-'wasted life" and so on; besides lot
of private things to his father and mother,
much too sacred to put into print. The let
ter to the girl at home was the most pitiful
of all; and choked as read it. The major
made no attempt to keep dry eyed. / re-
spected him for that. He read and rocked
himself to and fro, and simply cried like
woman without caring to hide it. The let
tiers were so dreary and hopeless and touch
ing We forgot all about The Boys follies,
and only thought of the poor Thing on the
charpoy and the scrawled sheets in our
hands. 1t was utterly impossible to let the
letters go home. They would have broken
his fathers heart and killed his mother
after killing her belief in her son.
At last the major dried his eyes openly
and said: Nice sort of thing to spring on
an English family! What shall we do?"
l said, knowing what the major had
brought me out for: The boy died of
cholera We were with him at the time.
We can't commit ourselves to half meas
ures. Come along"
Then began one of the most grimly comic
scenes have ever taken part in-the con-
coction of big written he, bolstered with
evidence, to soothe the boys people at
home. began the rough draft of the let
Ter, the major throwing in hints here and
there while he gathered up all the stuff
that the boy had written and burnt IL in the
fireplace. 1t was hot, still evening when
we began, and the lamp burned very badly.
In due course got the draft 20 my salts
faction, setting forth how the boy was the
pattern of all virtues, beloved by his regi-
ment, with every promise of great career
before him, and so on; bow we had helped
him through the sickness-it was no time
for little lies you viii UNDERSTANDABLE how
he had died without pain checked while
| was putting down these things, and
Of the poor people who would
read them Then | laughed at the gro
tesqueness Of the affair, and the laughter
mixed Itself up with the choke-snd the
major said that we both wanted drinks
I am afraid TO saw how much whisky