The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-03-06
NO WORD UNTIL,
BY Octave Thanct,

tho pro,,er note and had found neither.
because he had never faced himself I'M
Il tlg thing. With his men he was rs
i'll ut case us he wGs with his mess, and
his voice betrayed him. heard two.
orders, and then: Sergeant, what is
that rcar-ranl1 man doing, d-n him?"
That was sufficiently bad. y company
officer ought not to ask scrgeants for
information. lie commands, and com
mands are not held by syndicates
1t was too dusty to sec the drill acc
curately, but 1 could hear The excited
little voice pitching from octave to
octave and the uneasy ripple of
badgercd or bad-tesnpered files running
down the ranks. Ouless had come on
parade as sick of his duty as were the
men of theirs. The hot sun had told on
everybody's temper, but most of all on
the youngest mans. He had evidently
lost his sclf-control, and, not possessing
the nerve or the knowledge to break
off till he had recovered it again, was
making bad worse by using lillian
guage. That is to say, he was abusing
his command
The men shifted their ground and
came close under the gun l was lying
on. They were wheeling quarter-right
and they did it very badly, in the nat
ural hope of hearing Ouless swear
again. He could have taught them
nothing new, but they enjoyed the eX-
hibition. Instead of swearing Oulcss
lost his head completely and struck out
nervously at the wheeling nank-man
with Il little Malacca riding cane that
he held in his hand for pointer. The
cane was topped with thin silver over
lacquer and the silver had worn through
iii one place, leaving u triangular flap
sticking up had just time to see that
Ouless had thrown away his commits
sion by striking soldier when heard
the rip of cloth and n piece of gray
shirt showed under the queens shoddy
on the mans shoulder. 1t had been
the merest nervous flick of an eXasper-
atcd boy-but quite enough to forfeit
his commission, since it had been dealt
in anger to volunteer, and no pressed
man who could not under the rules of
the service reply. The result of it,
thanks to the natural depravity Of
things was as though Oulcss had cut
the mans coat off his back. Knowing
the new draft by reputation, / was
fairly certain that every one of them
would swear with many oaths that
Ouless had actually thrashed the man.
In that case Oulcss would do we'll to
pack his trunk His career as a serv-
ended. The wheel continued and the
men halted and dressed Immediately
opposite my resting place. Ouless' face
was perfectly bloodlcss. The thanking
mans was dark red. and l could see
his lips moving in wicked words. He
was Ortheris. After seven years serv-
ice and three medals, he had been
struck by boy younger than himself.
Further, he was my friend and good
man. a proved man and an Englishman.
The shame of the thing made me as
hot as it made Ouless cold, and if Or
theirs had slipped in q cartridge and
cleared the account at once I should
have rejoiccd. The fact that Ortheris
OF all men had been struck proved that
the boy could not have known whom
he was hitting; but he should have re-
membered that he was no longer a boy.
And then was sorry for him, and then
/ was angry again, and Orthcris stared
AAi - oao "a HiiAA Gnu SiSW iCuuCT duu
redder.
The drill halted for moment. No
one knew why, for not three men could
have seen the insult, the wheel being
end on to Ouless at the time. Then,
led I conceived by the hand of fate,
BraDdcr, the captain, crossed the drill
ground, and his eye was caught by not
more than square foot of gray shirt
over shoulder blade that should have
been covered by well-ftting tunic.
Heavens and earth!" he said, cross
ing in three strides. "Do you let your
men come on parade in rags, sir? What's
that scare-crow doing here? Fall out
that flank, man. What do you mean by
you, Ortheris! OF all men. What the
deuce do you mcan?'
BEG y pardon, sir" said Ortheris.
al scratched it against the guard-gate
running up to parade"
Scratched it! Ripped it up. you
mean. It's half way up your back"
at was little tear at first, sir, but
in portin' arms it got stretched, sir, an
I can't look behind me. felt it givin',
SIR"
''Ha" said Brander. 81 should think
you did feel it give. I thought it was
one of the new draft. You've good
pair of shoulders. Go on!''