Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-12-10

I'm >" ,s;.s
IL does not come in the hns Of our duty: it is
not What We arr paid for doing. Armstrong, of
our COMPANY. who always had q pat way Of put
Ting the case, used % saw we had but to
- az - soldier pie.
~ s - ,tI n f9 an, \ sish'
And a man with no head at all could DO that.
But. Indeed. when a man applies for enlistment,
the recruiting csicers do not e. very deep into
his mental development. They find out il he
can walk. ride. Fight and run. but they never
say 20 him "Can you Think II they did the
Commissioned side might have higher opinion
OF US.
But the ranks do think Sometimes the
Thoughts are pleasant enough; that is, when a
good man l. detailed "a cook-and you sit on
the clear side % the fre-and camp is snugiy
piiched. and YOU are just tired enough with the
day march 20 enjoy resting. And again, We
think pretty hard things of the world and our
superior officers; that's when cookie L. under
guard, aud the captain has detailed The first
man ON the roster in his place. or the wind
blows all wdys AZ once. AMI The smoke gets IN
your eye-, and She whirling aikah dust down
your throat. and The coffee j. thick with ashes,
a. a mean piece % work u cut out for US and
We can Q see whal For. 1EI.-wns the ease when
there take camp. The distance WAS about $50
mics. and FOR two-thir'ls Of the way there
rot cauteen - water 90 be had. And Christ
Has Ses drawing ueEr, and he captain had
given orders that the cCruT any would dine at
liz expense. We OLD soldiers knew what that
Eieaut-oy-tef-. TURKEY. cranberry sauce bak
crs Tle-. cigars But nothing would do save
that We gel slsht oIt Of garrison and pound the
road ID howart! Spring most inaccessible
- places, the torIoruest locality, the jumping
81 place % ChTisteudom: civilization stopped
snort hundred. @ miles east OF there
Armstrong looked ont Of the window and saw
the captain crossing the parade. Hi. here
comes Old TwObar. SAID he. and showed the
layout under D. bunk. FOR We were playing Mex
Ian monte, witch was against orders The
captain believed IN both military and moral
d scipiine. 80 he gave Us books and papers 10
read and forbid gaming. bu, there were so
many % Us who didnt know the alphabet and
nd Know the srJts on the cards that his
order was virtually dead letter. However.
We thought deal Of him. both a soldier and
man. He tried 20 do the square thing by us
and We didn't want 10 hurt his feelings By let
urg him catch ia the act SO somebody
dropped blanket over the edge Of the bunk.
careless Ike. and picked up books and
lcurcct about ready TO spring to attention.
BIt he went past the barrark door 70 the first
sergeant's room. and the first sergeant
there.
sergeant" sail h. short and snappy. and
looking III the huInoF to hill dozen greasers.
IS. rs-eant. detail ten men and a nOu-cOntnis-
stoned officer 10 take camp al HowsTd's Spring.
RATION EN- tor month ard start EN- out to-
morrow. FOrty rounds per man"
He turned % go. but came back and added:
. IF any OF the men want 10 20 let them |
hate 10 send them out whether or no. for il 5 a
dirty piece Of business. and why that measly
old water hole should be guarded this time OF
year"
He slammed the door on his sentence. cutting
II shor; of. and staiked back across the parade
The hrst sergeant came in and told Us.
Then we knew there had been a row between
the colonel and TwObaTs sbou: the matter His
black look ami h. cranky gait we're explained
Ours was admit ely tie crack company of the
garri-on. and ~ in the teeth os the
colonel; for Can't TwOba-s had ideas about
soldiers and -Oidlery that the colonel scoffed at
One q these vac. that because a man wore a
BLOUSE and carried gun he WAS not. therefore
the less man aad entitled 10 mans considera-
lOnandre-pect. Twobars carried out his idea as
far A. the colonel would lei him, and there vas
generally an oren lnisunderstai ding between
them a. 20 how fGr thar sholld be. The col
ousl was aggressive martinet and would not
hesitate e. pun his raak a subordinate when
that would strengthen his position. And the
captain wa- one Of those quiet men who fight
never from choice. but always from a sense of
daily. lie never yielded an inch and in time
came out a winner ~ even.
We were satisfied that .his was the coloueps
work. Our company was not next on the
roster for HELD service. and this was an extra
slice o. work ANYWAY We thought il an i'm
Position. and grew black over it a. Twobars
himself. HakkcTsOn. after swearing a while to
clear his throat. sad II was done to break up
our Christina dinner. and It did look that way
The colonel did not approve of extras the
regular ration was good enough for enlisted
men But how should be know anything about
AZ That Was what puzzled Us ALL till Arm
strong. who had been studying Cutters face
IItFlafl /. fuvgrrl 90 HOY a ntps and gbnntaI.
IOWA ". DGtchy. You did it,
Gutter vas = recruit; that IL. he had not COM
pletct his tr-t year OF service. and he one
who had slipped into the army because no
examination Oh The bead vas prescribed He
Wa a boyish. sInooth-chceked German. and
vas in love with the cuiJ.cIs kitchen girl So
when Armstrong shouted at him he blushed
gui.ulv. and said he hal told her OF ii because
II was something that seemed pleasant 70 him
There the graI cyIne te!egraE b again bows
said Armstrong 1T runs from the barracks
O. thu kitchen. from the kitchen to the parIor.
ana then to the colonies private ear. He gets
oi.cLtl me-aages over il. Take warning Gut
Ter. he continued. 'aud don't tell al YOU
kuow, no; cven 10 the girl YOU love You'll rue
~ AZ voa do
Who's - 60. Ferseant?'' said Hskkerson.
ANYBODY that waits 70. haven't made the
detail yet; but it's volunteers or victims
Who II 70 ROW?
Afm-tronE got Up and yawned. IN 60 for
one. said be. Il don Q care much for Christ
ri@s. anyway. and would as soon have IL one
place as another. lie looked resningly nj
Gutter. and the little German said be would 90
Thi- Was a severe pcuArce. for Gutter did love
good dinne-. Armstrong warned him not TO
SPEAK Of she volunteering. for that would star,
the colonel on the Warpath again. Hakkerson
Ewore some more IN preliminary wav, and also
volunteered lie belle, ed that a man could not
b. good soldier without gr,lmbling and eursing
a. duty. bat he performed al the duty that
cafnc Co him. aiG some that lie went out Of his
WHv to had. And the rest Of the squad WAS
regularly detailed.
should not want To saw at length how we
male that march might e; iato print and
the popular. heroic idea Of the army might be
Yartly shattered thereby. IL Will be enough to
say that made u a. comfortably a. we could
Ihss. W.. NO commissioned officer to enforce
rigii discipline. We hunted some along the
road for deer aud antelope were plenty, and
Wild turkeys roasted IN the tall pecan trees by
thc riyer and quail and rabbits were all about
We bad wagon with water kegs so We got
over the dry -fase without difficulty We we're
IN the Viii plains country. but we looked for
no Indian aud saw none, n had We would
have tscu -he intruders. not they Every
d;isty brown mile took Us farther from Inen's
Aabita.i1t-. tas thor from wagon roads. farther
frotl beaten trails-Oh u was a Wild goose
Cha-s We were on. 20 far any material benefit
appeared. But suppose " Was good disci-