The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1892-06-02
sWV THss trail, train that b.

regiment up from the south was side
tracked in very contracted, quarters,
with 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 all the refuse
of the mess when a command is under
going the crucial luxury of day or
two near n city-combi ned with q
steaming litter from the cattle train to
make the place very tight, as the cap
tain of Troop f remarked.
1t was 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 were young enough to
consider such problems-had long since
exhausted every phase Of the possibili-
ties as to whether they would sec lit
tie actual service, or simply be half
mounting guard~en.the Dakota
prairies, and had given themselves up
to stolid Indifference and tobacco.
'Pll be hanged if l was ever in a
tighter place! Reminds me of night
| spent out here on the Platte. though,
before l went into the service" the
captain of Troop f remarked, as he
languidly watched the awkward tow
headed squad turning out for therather
superogatory task OF relieving ethe
guard.
Young Mr.. Shortridge. who was from
the Point and had lately joined his
regiment, whipped 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 E caught at
even that. He. was not used to encour-
agement when he struck a reminiscent
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
picturesque quality as story-teller,
had also taken the Eest of exceeding
newness from his recitals, so. far as
most of the mess were concerned.
sit was back in the COS, when /
killed my only man." the captain of
troop 4 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 off 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. / had come out with
the rest. There had been. an Indian
outbreak; a settlement or two had
been wiped out, 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 bcastly 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
eyer rode soyeE
1--WE 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, fer fear of having his thirst
n. a 10 L
the line Of march of the main column
didn,t Seem to lead to water. Once we
came to an old watercouTse, the bed of
it as dry and baked as an adobe wall.
Sometimes, as we galloped up with the
front files the hot air would come full
10 our faces, smelling of ooze and
watersheds, till we were sure there
must be q spring or at least buffalo
wallow just beyond. But the nearest
approach we found to water that day
was hollowed-out ravine or two,
filled with sunflowers standing in the
cracked soil that looked like stiffened
alligator leather. There was nothing
anywhere but bunch grass and cactus
We'll, that lasted till toward night.
ThepAwe came to where the settlement
had been, in q little draw, up from the
rivers. There lay the bones Of the oxen
and the others, huddled together.
.'Arusty- looking buzzard got up from
the 'boneheap as we rushed by into the
river up to our horses dustcaked
shoulder blades
.sBut these were other things to
thinISof besides water, though the OF
ficers had to beat us back from it with
the fiat OF their saberss
ION = rise just beyond the boneswa,