The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1893-11-23

| found in the history of IndIa-there were
. few European officers was my
humble self-but no one counted fol
much when George Crater came to be
considered. 1t was TO George Crater tha!
our successful retreat was to be attribut-
ed. George Crater had fortified this rot
ten old Oak bungalow, and, therefore, il
was impregnable. George. had head
full of science and further plans scaled
down to the inch, and the soldiers and
doctors and people had only to obey
George, and it would be all right. This
is what Miss Tangler thought, and she
was, perhaps, quite right. At all events
she was quite right to think it-I am
sure Of that.
That OAK bungalow has village round
it now, and some day it will have rail.
way station. It is called Crafer's Fort tc
this day, and there are some men who
maintain that in it's way it Is wonder
There is one man-namely, the present
| writer-who knows that that fort was
planned and built for the protection OF
one insignificant, small, blue-eyed girl
who moved in and out of those casemated
rooms with gentle tread as If she ought
always to have walked on thick carpets
amid the peace of domestic security.
When the enemy came across the river
and threw up earthworke, George Crafers
practiccd mind fixed its talons on the
possible meaning of the maneuver. The
possible meaning was a mine. Bird
| laughed when he heard this. He told
one or two men that Crater seemed to
think that he was defending a beleaguered
city against a European foe. But the
major merely observed that Crater was
all right.
! To meet the danger of mine George
Crater proceeded with a ruler and a
pencil to draw plans of counter mine.
| These tunnels were to be excavated at
such an angle that any mine cut from
the enemy's earthworks to our line of
defense must necessarily come near
enough to a sentinel stationed in our
! tunnel for him to hear the miners work
| ing.
Bird of the Guides, be it noted, was in
the way of becoming a distinguished
man. He had been splendidly educated.
He was rich and ambitious. Above all
for Indian frontier work he was plucky
almost to recklessness. In his inmost
! heart he probably knew that Crater was
quite right to treat this, his first practical
| fortiiication, as serious matter; but he
was jealous Of the chance, afforded by
| fortune to George Crater. Moreover, he
was jealous of the interest displayed in
the youthful engineer and all his works
by Edith Tangler. The truth was that
| Bird had fallen in love with Edith
| Tangler. He was not attached to us.
He had been travelling on his own ac-
count in the North, and had fingered on
at Naoug on account of Miss Taugler.
| OF course, we had known for months
that that vague possibility called a ''some-
thing" had existed between George Crater
and Edith Tangler, but Mrs. Tangler
had been strong in opposition, and Mrs.
Tangler was a person of whom all wise
men are to this day afraid. Mrs. Tangler
is a woman who will make a mark of
some sort, even in heaven When this
| lady perceived Birds penchant she got
morally behind Bird and pushed, and
! 70 IL 60
CRATER. Then came the trouble, and we
had to evacuate.
When Bates announced that there was
somethiL e moving in Countermine B we
smiled rather rincredulously. Countermine
B was not completed. It only ran a dis
tance of twenty yards from our outer
wall, and [ think most of lis looked npou
1t as fad of Crater. Tho other mine
A, IN fact-was In the same condition,
and only one man worked at each during
the day. But Crater took the thing quite
seriously. Before Bates had time to
right about face Crater had slipped past
him. We were left smoking. Bird, by
/
nearly midnight, and we imagined that
he had gone to bed.
"a mongoose or MOLE suggested one
man sleepily.
Nothing else" replied another, "would
be likely to go into Countermine B.
l looked in to-day. It's about the size OF
a big drain pipe"
After that we sat smoking in silence
waiting for Crater to come back. 1 sup
pose we slept IN our chairs.
When Crater left US. it appears that
he went straight to the mouth of Counter.
mine Is. One or two men were assem-
bled there, whispering among themselves
4 When Crater came they stood aside
watching his face with their beady, dog
like eyes. At first he listened. A man
by the way, who works underground
gets wonderfully keen in his hearing
George Crater loosened his revolver anc
crept on hands and knees into the dark
ness of the tunnel.
L tell the tale as he told it to me. anC
George Crater was not exactly verbos,
man. He merely detailed the facts, with
ont pauslng to comment on his own feel
lngs, as some men would have loved t.
do.
He went along slowing reckoning tn
distance as he penetrated into the dark
{ ness by the number of steps he took
The tunnel was about four feet high, an,
| Crater was little over six feet, so b
: must have been rather cramped, Lon
before he reached the end he heard th
sound OF somebody working, not in Couu
termine B, but in another tunnel close a
hand-a tunnel that wonld meet Cour
termina R at an ohfnca ane.l.