The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-11-29

tary operations in these -daysbf tremendous
guns and search-lights n other means
which make it easy for battles TO occur be-
tween armies several miles apart. .
The captain was thirsty, but wished not to
leave his place ut the embrasure until the
dispatch should be in his hands. He sent
. p waite for his, canteen.
t't(4st il from Billy" he directed. Billy
was I boy he had recently taken from the
ranks to be his personal attendant-a youth
Of 16, who had enlisted whom the company
had been formed, having succeeded in be-
ing accepted by the recruiting officer in
spite of his nonconformity with the re-
quirementG.
The private came back without having
found Billy but with the canteen. which a
corporal had picked up in a trench.
II wonder where the scamp's gone" said
the captain to tho first lieutenant. DE
serted. Ill bet! He was q young coward. 1
| told him 90 the other day when he was
afraid to 20 out to the we'll for water under
frs
brasurs. "Billie told nue. about it himself.
1t nearly broke the younRster's heart. l
found him lying with his face to the
ground behind your tent, crying like a
baby. What's the matterY I asked. He
wouldn't say for a while, but at last it
came out. You'd told him he'd never make
a soldier
"And no never will" granted the cap-
"But watt said the lieutenant, c%ontinu-
ing. What you said broke him all up. he
told me, for be really wanted to be a brave
man, and to fight for his country. That's
out for. 1t amt that Tm afraid he said,
it's because if / was gone mother'd have no
one lsft'-Ah! what's that?",
The lieutenant's abrupt breaking of was
duo to the sound of firing, which began
suddenly. He returned to the embrasure.
sergeant. THAT'S What they're blazin'
W. It,"
What's he doing?" asked the captain.
Hes reached the body, an he's on his
knees this side the horse, looEenin' the dis
patch from the dead fellows hand. Now
all tours! The dispatch is in his mouth"
''Their bullets are knocking up the dust
around him. said the lieutenant. "They
have sense enough to aim low. II looks
like Private Connor."
Can't be him" blurted the captain.
"Whew! Listen to the firingv' said the
lieutenant.
"They're bangin' at him with every mus
ket they've got behind their old mudpile,"
addsd the sergeant.
OuE man y Ill ElBAb uOWs bulO tA0 Alou-
tennpt. He's up and running"
But the sergeant shouted: mo. by gum!
Down he gOss!'
The four volunteers sailed forth at the
captains command and brought him in.
They tore the dispatch from between his
tseth, and the captain hastily read it in the
light of a to Oh that one brought. The lieu
tenant knelt down to examine the man who
had carried in the dispatch from tho or
dsrly's body. He had died without q groan
pierced by a mimic ball to the heart.
Shot in the back" said the sergeant;
"but he got his discharge honorably, never
theless.
Hello! Here's another bit of paper
fallen from his pocket" cried the lieuten-
ant, rising. Perhaps he found two dis
patches on the messengers body"
The captain, having p,srused the o%oloners
order, o the paper handed him BY the
lieutenant. Something impelled him, when
be had glanced at it, to road it aloud;
and, having begun to do so, he wal moved
to continue to tho end of the page:
Up. S.-Above all, my boy. never shrink
from a dangerous duty on any account,
even mine. Show yourself q hero, as your
father was, and his father, and mine. Re-
my darling. Your loving mother"
The captain looked up from tue sheet, and
said: II reckon this amt . dispatch. It's
a letter. Who is the man, l~ieutenant2"
The captain, the lieutenant and the SER
Reant grouped around the lead mans head,
and a corporal lowered a Pickering torch 80
that it lighted up the face. The lieutenant
exclaimed:
"It's Billy"
The captain looked long and eilently at
the boyish features, and then said quietly:
He told you the truth the other day,
lisutsnsnt. 1t was his mother he Thought
OF. This letter came since then. Show
yourself a hero it says; and he obeysd
orders. Have him buried with every
honor"
The captain walked away. to write to the
boys mother.
And the sergeant. q kinless man. who had
been musing, with his arms folded, now re-
marked to the lieutenant:
'I've larnt one thing to- night that al
ways puzzles newly many \ brave man
30 often gets took for a coward"
Tn lieutenant, a young man thought
of his " people at home; and. without
knowing exactly why, stopped and brushed
thu dust from the forehead Of the boy.
They buried him in the flag.
n. N. STEVENS.
DOWNRIGHT |H.. .