The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1893-11-23

|
| damaged and useless and sold in bulk to
| native dealers for value M old metal at one
of the clearance sales some time ago"
had learned all ! could spurred back
| to camp with the bullets. from which had
| never parted, in my pouch. shall never
| forget the scene. In the middle of the
camp the men were drawn up in three
sides of square In the center of the
| square were the triaugles, with Gerald
lashed to them. saw them AS came down
| the hill take off his jacket and lash his
wrists. | sped on. | could see the old
colonel with the paper in his hand, stand
| ing alone, and then | saw nothing more,
| for dip in the road concealed them. As
| rose again to the crest at less than a
quarter of a mile. saw woman rush in
| from between the ranks toward the tri.
| angles, holding something in her hand
darted on and rushed into the square, but
| just in time to seize the larricrs arm AS
| the lash was descending, and to see that
the woman was my sister, and that she
| was being led away between two ser2eauts
stop, colonel, for the love Of Gudln
cried, with my hand still grasping the far
ricr's arm. 81 have evidence TO prove the
| man not gIiltyh
then showed the colonel the bullet that
| had come from the saddle and the others
that while one was marked No 2 the others
were all marked No. 5with dot | assured
him on my honor as an officer and gUntle
man that it was impossible that No =
bullet could by any chance get into pack
ct of No. bullets. He was only too glad
to hear me and agreed to postpone the ex-
ecution of the sentence till further orders
from the general of his division.
I've heard some shouts, and I've seen
some displays of enthusiasm in my time,
but | never shall forget the shouts that
rose the minute that the colonel had pro-
nounccd that the execution of the sentence
on Corporal Ashton would bo postponed
until further orders.
The men had been standing at 'atten-
ton" many of them with tears rolling
down their checks, but when they heard
postpone" they broke ranks, rushed up
to the triangles, cut the lashngs. broke
the cat, screamed, shouted, danced like
madmen.
"Thrce cheers for Gentleman jack and
his wife Again! Again, boys"
Officers mud all Joined in for few min
utes. There stood the old gray headed
colonel in the midst of Il scene that out
bedlamed Bedlam.
As for me, | was like man In dream
felt hundred hands graspng mine,
h't NY SiSltt SpbOlHB my arms anu
then ! head the colonel say to he bugler
"Sound the assembly" What changel
In less than minute stood by the fallen
triangles in the center OF three lines OF liv-
ing statues. Not sound; not move
ment
Major Jackson, reform your column
and break off the men" said the colouel,
and then walked away with my sister aud
myself
Butwhat did my sister do there'
Well, she had promised Gerald that ho
should not suffer the disgrace OF the lash,
and had during the hour thought she was
foolinG with the doctor managed to get
hold of his bottle of prussic acid and had
rushed out with half OF it for him and half
for herself, and her appearance had so thor
oughly surprised every one that she had
reached the triangles and almost raised 1t
to his lips when the doctor recognizing his
own blue bottle, struck her hand violent
blow aud dashed it on to the ground, be-
sides disabling her from getting her own
share.
And how did the affair cnd' Was the
general OF the division salisfed'
Z don't think he would have been with
that evidence alone, and so we went about
TO hunt for more. | begged that ns we hnd
found so much Gerald might he permitted
| guard to find the missing tiger
We Went there-MeSgie insisted on Join
ing us. All the officers of duty went and
about half the men. Gerald then painted
out the spot where he had stood and whcro
he had shot the tiger. And from that point
we started, crossing and recrOssing till
there could not have been anything as large
az a half crown that could be hidden. Meg
gle and were riding in front Of the line,
WHEN Meggie exclaimed:
'What horrible smell comes from that
copsc"
~ don't smell anything. Meg"
You've lived here so long that you We no
sense of smell left"
OF course, as MegSle was with us,
Blinkers was there too. Blinkers adj
vHnced to the copSe, paused and rushed
underneath the grass, bark ing as II infuli
ated.
There's something in there Willie"
Someof the others coming up we pushed
our way into the depths, guided by the
frantic bark Of Blinkrrs, and nftcr being
much scratched and torn found ourselves
in ths center of II trampled circle of jungle
grass, with the half devuured remains of a
large tiger
The doctor was sent for, and the wound
discovered The beast had evidently been
X.
was also evident that, wounded as il was,
it had fingered ON Till it WAS mere skin and
bone and had died only o hin the last few
days. Assisted by some natives, the good
nntured doctor commenced the horrible
task of searching for the bullet, aud after
half an hours labor the most disgusting
he had ever undergone, it was found fiat
tened against the large bouu of the hind.
leg and handed to me.
Never shall forget the pleasure ! felt
when | saw on the rescued bullet the No.
3, with a dot as fresh aud clear as il it had
just come from the pressing machine
Great was the rejoicing that night in he
camp OF the Fortieth Blue fires were burn.
ell; the band came and screnuard Mcggie.
the Whole of the officers, including the old
colonel, came MS TO n loycc, hut still | felt
there was one thing more to be found out
How did the No. . bullet get into the sad
dIeg
At length inquired whether any Of the
officers missed any OF their arms. Curious
ly enough the only missing arm was a gun
belonging to the wounded captain. | asked
If he remembered the size. lie did 1t was
Just shade smaller thnn the bore of the
regimental cHrbines. You could get a gov
erment bullet down bya great deal Of
hanmeriug
/ now propounded my theory, that the
bullet M. ? had been fired from the cap
tain's missing rifle, for the point OF the
bullet was marked with rings and conAil-
erably ilattcned. Now, there was nothing
IN the flesh ard nothing in the saddle to
produce these marks, and they must there
fore have been made before firing. then
proposed that full search should be nnde
with dogs for at least two miles round
from where the shot was fired to see il any
traces could he found Of either the man or
II