Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1892-04-09

1890 Ff ~ N"N
regiment up from the south was side
tracked in very contracted quarters,
with a cattle train on one side and a
high board fence on the other. 1t was
their second day there, and the place
between the tracks on the left and the
fence on the right was beginning to
take on the peculiar offensiveness of a
camp OF men when the camp is avow-
edly temporary. Bits of decayed veg.
etables, tin cans, bottles-a all the refuse
of the mess when a command is under
going the crucial luxury of a day or
two near a city-combined with n
steaming litter from the cattle train to
make the place very tight, as the cap.
tain of Troop E remarked,
1t vas during the last-r umored In.
dian outbreak, and four troops Of the
Seventh cavalry. ordered to the front.
were lying over at Denver, awaiting
the rest of the regiment. The officers
those who We're young enough to
consider such problems-had long since
exhausted every phase of the possibili-
ties as to whether they would see a lit.
tie actual service, or simply be half
frozen mounting guard on the Dakota
prairies, and had given themselves M
to stolid indifference and tobacco.
I'll be hanged if | was ever in a
tighter place. Reminds me of a night
l spent out here on the Platte. though,
before ] went into the service the
captain of Troop f remarked. as he
languidly watched the awkward tow.
headed squad turning out for the rather
superogatory task of relieving the
guard.
Young Mr.. Shortridge, who was from
the Point, and had lately Joined his
regiment, whipped a bit of cigar ashes
off the front OF his blouse with his
handkerchief, and focused the captain
in a look that wondered what worth
remembering could have happened to
anyone before he went into the service.
The captain of Troop f caught at
even that He was moi used to encour.
agement when he struck a re miniscent
vein. He had lived himself up from
the ranks into his shoulder-straps.
The thirty years that the feat had
taken, OF burning summers'at unheard.
OF posts on the Texas border. where
the beer could not be kept cool. and
snow-locked winters on the northern
plains, where the punch could not be
kept warm, while they had given him
a picturesque quality as a story-teller.
had also taken the Eest of exceeding
newness from his recitals, so far as
most Of the mess were concerned.
ut was back in the COS, when |
FILLED my only man." the captain of
troop Z went on, as the line in faded
blue and yellow broke into twos and
swung off, the light on the bugler's
trumpet across his shoulder shifting
brightly from mouth piece to bell, as
he stepped of at the head of the col.
umn, bent on the momentous duty of
relieving the guard.
1T was just after the first gold ex.
element here. l had come out with
the rest. There had been an Indian
outbreak; a settlement or two had
been wiped out, a few immigrants
killed, and three troops of the Sixth
had been sent down from old Fort
Laramie to put a stop to the business.
] remember, it was beastly hot. / had
fallen in with the regiment, with the
rest of the stragglers, and we had
made forty miles that day-forty of
the most internal miles that anyone
eve rode over.
I'VE had camped the night before
without water. Our canteens were
dry, yet no one was SO thirsty that he
cared to leave the main column to look
for water. for fear Of having his thirst
quenched with hot lead. Somehow
the line of march Of the main column
didn't seem to lead to water. Once we
came to an old watercourse, the bed of
1t as dry and baked as an adobe wall.
Sometimes, as we galloped up with the
front files, the hot air would come full
In our faces, smelling of ooze and
wster-reeds, till we were sure there
must be a spring Or at least a buffalo
wallow just beyond. But the nearest
approach we found TO water that dav
was . h~ollowed-out ravine or two.
filed with sunfiowers standing in the
cracked soil that looked like stiAened
alligator leather. There was nothing
anywhere but bunch grass and cactus.
well, that lasted till toward night.
Then we cana to where the settlement
had been, In . little draw, up from the
river. There Icy the bones Of the oxen
md the Others huddled together.
usty'looking buzzard got up from
~ bonchesp - we rushed BY into the
- ~ 70 Z ADysss' 6usSeskeo
eAc1ldar 6ladea
eet tbeve were other thinQs to
e.1nk q bsstdsa water, though the Of
..ecFs ~ - nat % back from Il with
$500 q 1helr sAben
estee ~ ssyoud ths tonss WA