Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-02-04

The crash Of rife, a henry faIl. u moan.
! Thszs-sIleIscs.
IL must have been nearly midnight
! The lights in the barracks and at the
old hospital beyond had long since been
| ezlnguished, and only here and there
along the row Of officers quarters and at
| the guard house, suggestively planted
half way down the slope toward the post
traders store, was there sign OF wskeful
life. One or two upper windows gave
| forth feeble CLEAN, and there was quite
| jovial glow pouring from the open
doorway Of the coloners big house across
the dark rectang!e. It fell upon the tan
white flagstaff and displayed it from
base 10 cTosstrees, a solitary, ghost ike
shaft, and then. with gradually dinnir-
ishing power, illQmined the graveled
pathway that bisected the parade and
led from the broad fight OF steps IN front
OF the commanding officers to the ma
jor's on the southern side Overhead
the stars were glittering in al absolutely
cloudless sky. Not breath Of air was
stirring the forest down IN the black
depths OF the valley to the south Soft
ened by distance, the rush Of the river
over its rocky bed fell upon the ear like
soothing lullaby.
Ten minutes earlier the sound of sill
very laughter and CHEEKY VOICES had
come floating across the garrison, and
half dozen little groups had strolled
away from the colonel's gate, some turn
ing to right and left, Others crossing in
the broad stream OF light from his open
portals. One by one the doors Of the
various quarters had opened TO admit
their occupants, few lingering good
nights had been exchanged between gal
| liant young bachelors and some dainty
form enwrapped II heecy burnOus, and
| then even those night owls '.the Young
sters" had betaken themselves TO their
doIniciles. One after another doors were
closed, lights popped up in the second
| floor windows, curtains We're drawn. the
lights enshrouded, and finally a silence
as OF solitude spread its mantle over the
parade, and the corporal of the guard,
leaning against the gate post at the
southwestern entrance, bethought him
| how expressive was the sign the Indians
| made for night
he was of medium height. but an ath-
letic, well built young fellow, as any one
might have seen as the corporal stood
under the big lamp at the guardhouse
| but few moments before He had a
handsome, clear cut face, with a good
| deal of soldier bronze about the cheeks
and jaws; he wore his natty undress
uniform with an easy grace, and carried
the long Springfield as though it were a
| toy. The crossed rifles on his forage
cap, the buckle of his cartridge belt,
even the copper cartridges themselves.
cleaned in the lamplight- The chev-
rOns on his sleeve. the narrow stripe
| along the seam of his trousers, the Ber-
lin gloves he wore, were all spotlessly
white, and Corp. Brent was what the
men were wont to call "a dandy Jack"
though there was not man in the troop
barracks at the western end of the pa
rade who cared more than once to put
ON the gloves with the dandy" Brent
had speedily demonstrated the fact that
he could outspar any man in the cavalry
portion of the garrison, and that only
Sergt Connors, Of G company, was able
to beat him in bout
In the little battalion of infantry
Brent was a popular man: so, too, had
he been in the cavalry command that re-
Gently occupied the post; but these fell
lows of the Eleventh, who had but late
| iy marched In, seemed rather slow to
discover his many good traits Very
possibly they did not like the apparent
ease with which he had defeated the
champions they had SO confidently sent
against him. Still it was good natured.
not vlndlctlve, sort of jealousy-that
soidierly rivalry between the two corps
that seems irrepressible and that really
does no great harm-and Brent had be-
| gun to win friends among the troopers,
who liked the frank, laughing way he
had, when an order was suddenly issued
| by the new post commander, the en-
| forcement of which stirred up row.
| AS the last visitor left the colonels
gate and he closed his door. thereby
ahntting out the broad CLEAN that, al
most like that Of the headlight of a loco
motive, had shot athwart the parade,
Corp. Brent was bordering over this very
| matter.
| Col. Morris was man who hated If
regularity of any kind, and as the grass
began to sprout in the spring he noted
that it failed to grow along what was
| evidently short cut between tine south
west gate, the way to town and the in
fantry barracks at the eastern end The
former post commander. cayalryman
like himself, had not paid much atten-
ton TO this sort of thing. and the in
fantry had grown to look upon the short
| cut as sort of thoroughfare sacred to
| their uses; no officer ever had occasion
to go that way When, therefore, the
beaten pathway was plowed up and re-
| sodded, and an order was issued that the
men must confine themselves to the
gravel path or roadway there were Just