Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1892-04-28
AN ARMY STORY.

q second DIT of paper and read;
Sergeant Higgins, with Privates
Abrams, Evans, Larsen and Stone,
will report at 10 o'clock tomorrow
morning, armed and mounted, to
escort the commanding officer and
his family to Fort Warner"
Morning broke dark and gloomy.
There was promise Of snow in the
dense gray clouds of the west. There
was a promise of rain, the unsteady
wind from the south.
AT 10 o'clock the colonel stepped
in an ambulance up there by the door
of the commanding officers quarters
and told the driver to go ahead.
He was a very proud old man, with
a record that had grown brighter in
battle. He was cold and imperious
and commanding-as an officer
should be.
Ahead of the ambulance rode the
two servants of the commanding
officer. Behind came the escort.
The dance at Fort Warner that
night will be long remembered
Lieutenant Gay was the lion of the
evening. He bad just come back
from brush with the PIutes, and all
reports united in covering him with
glory.
He was quick, incisive, pompous.
He knew a great many things, and
he told all about them
He was so like her father, Dolothy
Lane did not like him. Why Will
we love in one man the traits that
make us hate another?
Lieutenant Gay was captivated by
the colonels daughter. Maybe he
thought the alliance would help him
in an official way. He oveistepped
the bourds of prudence and boasted
to group of superior officers as they
stood in a corner of the ballroom
while the walters fitted by.
"Don't anticipate too much, Gay,
said a captain, bantering. "SAe looks
higher than you"
'She couldn't said the lion
calmly. Then he added, with a vain
mans rising voice, Dorothy Lane
will marry the lieutenant.
A couple just wh;rl.ug past caught
the boasting, and the lady dropped
from her companions arm. Turning
suddenly upon the group of officers
the subject Of comment said swiftly:
"You overrate yourself, sir. !
will not marry the lieutenant.
Any other man would have been
crushed. He simply ignored her,
and returned to continue the gossip.
But the other officers, annoyed at his
ill taste, had quilted the corner, and
the lion of the evening had to hunt
up worshipers.
Next day he asked permission to
accompany the escort back to Camp
Bldwell. He was provided mount.
At o'clock the little cavalcade
marched out of Warner.
The clouds in the north had thrown
out skirmish line of snow. The
wnd in the east was heavy with rain
In an hour the front wheels chuck.
ed down in gully and the ambu-
lance stopped, The commanding
officers, laying there almost on his
hack, opened his eyes and swore.
"We are lost, sir" said the ser.
geant, from one side.
"The ambulance is broken" saio
the lieutenant, from the other.
ave must stay here all night,
growled the colonel and then he
cursed the teamster, and the dance
and the snowstorm, and-the comfoft
less couch in the ambulance.
At midnight some one aroused
HIM by shouting:
'It is the Piutesl'
He sprang from his blankets. The
snow had ceased The rain hao
ended. The cold moon was shining
There was bitter fight at the dool
of the ambulance. The horses had
been stabbed. Their picket rope was
broken and they were galloping
aimlessly about. He caught one
mounted and hurried away.
Some one was swinging sabel
down thero by the wrecked ambu
lance. He had cut an open space AND
was pushing the fight, slashing, run
ming forward, relocating, darling tc
the right, springlng to the left. Ii
was carte point and right cut, tierce
and left swing, enquarte and dowr
sweep.
That was Private Larsen In tbt
hour Of need he took command.
sFetch up three horses!" ht
shouted; and the sergeant came lead
ing two of them
Larsen pulled woman from the
ambulance and set her upon one Of
them.
AMOUNT the others and bring them
along he commanded. Then he
sent the saoee home with a claDg,
picked up a caroline and darted away,
leading the horse with its clingsne
rider.
AT daylight he saw horseman
skulking in the rocks. He did moi
like him, and be fred one shot as Q
challenge.
1t was the recreant Lieutenant
Gay-lion of the ball yesterday
pitifrl coward this morning.
That evening as the men stood in
line to answer roll call the orderly
soroaant annanncad a nrnmotion