The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-02-29

apoplexy on that awful occasion ''when
the colonel was robbed" That obese off
Ger and gentleman swore a great oath that
future consignments should be escorted
by a full company, and the records show
that on this point at least he was true to
himself. He locked the stable at the usu-
fl time.
The trumpet blew stirring call now;
one that brought the flush of excite
ment with faster pulsa lions, and mo-
ment's blood tingling worth 3 year Of
commonplace life. In twenty minutes
Troop Bof the -th cavalry charged
down the dusty road, the futtering of
the guidons and yellow facings of the
cavalry unifosm, the rush Of gray horses
and the sheen of the polished steel scab-
bards as they caught the early rays of
the morning sun and clattered in chorus,
making picture worthy the study Of a
disciple of MISSIONER. At Bonanza City,
better known as Fatty Carroll's place,
oil the very edge of the reservation, a
halt was made and the troop apportioned
into detachments to cut the surrounding
country into segments as the spider does
the circle Of his web when he runs his
lines across it. Fatty was called on to
keep open house, and having been a SOL
dier himself knew what it meant and
hustled.
The post had not been paid for three
months, and the heyday in the blood of
Fatty's boarders was tame. Nothing
was found in the dance hall but sawdust
and commingled "reminiscences of stale
beer and stogies, and the bedrooms of
the blear eyed and very dizzy girls
gave no better results. One squad then
whirled away like Arabs down the river
road toward Spokane Falls, another
swept along the road cutting through the
forest, past its margin where the ''hold
up" occurred, and on to Rathdrum,
while two others deployed and went at
twenty yard intervals through the giant
pines to the open prairie beyond. Dur
ing the afternoon the last detachment
had returned; the fruit of the recon-
noissance, an old miner in the post
guardhouse.
A burro, as old as his master and none
the less patient in appearance, in appar-
ent unconcern nibbled the quartermas-
ter's straw rick near the corral, a care
fully adjusted diamond hitch still in his
pack. Corporal cambridge had not suf-
fciently recovered to view the captive.
He had not detailed an account of the
robbery, having been carried conscious
from the adjutant's Office to the post
hospital, where for several days he and
life were not on speaking terms.
The miner and his burro had been
sighted near the scene of the robbery on
the road to the fort. Both were walking,
both heads were down, both seemed too
deeply plunged in meditation to hear the
approach of the troopers and both were
unfeignedly surprised when arrested.
In the pack were the miners usual para
boots, red flannel
shirt, pick and pan, a sufficient grub
stake for months, and spade bearing
signs of recent use. His manner, his
dress, his idom, his tone, his atmosphere
proclaimed the miner, his pockets even
spoke of his occupation, for in one re-
posed greasy buckskin wallet, closed
by pickering string, and containing
seven gold twenties and few small
nuggets gummed together by chips of
navy plug. No other money and no
weapons except revolver and knife
were found upon him, and his account
of himself was so remarkably perpen-
dicular that even Major Bull was con-
strained to let the poor devil loose. Ac-
cordingly the patient old man and burro
were liberated in two hours after their
capture, and set out bearing no i'll will,
so the spokesman said, but sense of
great injury was plainly visible in their
bearing as they passed slowly out of
sight. A few days later and it was cur
rent they had survived the snow-deeps
of the Fourth Of July pass and had fairly
entered on their prospecting among the
spurs of the Occur d'Alenes, where gold
was soon after discovered. Subsequent
events proved the falsity of this rumor.
and that they had waded through to the
railroad in the neighborhood of Pend
d'Oreille and gone back to ''the lower
country" to sip again the sweets of the
blossom of civilization.
During his convalescence Corporal
cambridge was tried by garrison
court. His commanding officer, Cap
tain Kell, known to his faniliars as the
"Jack of Clubs" because of his star
Ting resemblance to that chap as found
in the saueezers used at the clubhouse,
was most aggressive for the accused,
who had enlisted to learn music when a
boy of fourteen and had soon been trans
ferred to his company, where he now
was after nine years service. The cor
poral submitted a statement in his own
behalf, in which he said he was reach
ing for his revolver when he was shot
and only then discovered its loss. The
finder having restored it and testified to
having dug it out of the mud near the
freight Office, the court found verdict
of acquittal-against all precedent.
Three months later the young soldier
found himself. with a private of his
company, detained at Ainsworth, a
struggling rendezvous of lumbermen