Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1894-12-20


camp and set to work grooming horse
the very evening of his arrival, and
turned out for drill the next morning,
when, barring a certain quaint habit
of throwing the left foot far out to the
front at the command march and a
queer way of executing ''about face"
it was found that he was far better
drilled in the rudiments, at least, than
the corporal detailed as his instructor.
The carbine manual was strange to
him, but not so the Saber. He handled
it like a master. He knew how. to
clean and polish arms, belt buckles,
etc, in a way that the few old hands
at the post recognized at once as lex
pert" He was besieged by German
sergeants with queries as to his past
history, but said he preferred to keep
all that to himself. Yes, he had served.
No use in denying that. He had been
through certain cadet schools and en-
tered certain regiment of hussars;
which one he wouldn't say, neither
could they find out by writing. It was
nobody's business but his own, anyhow,
said he: The United States had adopt
ed him, and he was now an Amerikaner,
''Freiwilliger," too. Long before the
weary march to the hills was over he
had demonstrated the fact that he was
fine hOrseman and good shot. Lieut..
Ray, commander of the big detach-
ment, had more than once spoken of it;
and SO, when finally they reached the
wild romantic hills and were distrib-
uted among the regiments there await
ing them, Schramm looked with won
derment in his soul, if not in his eyes,
at the slouch-hatted, rough-shirted, I'M
shaver officers, at the ragged mob of
the rank and file, at their gaunt skele-
tons of horses, and marveled that his
strange fortunes had made him a sol
dier in SO strange service.
Wisely he kept his views to himself,
making no comment even to the Ger
mans, who were disposed to be So
cable and to question him as to his an
tecedents. In two days a strong col
umn marched away-a1l brolzen-down
men and horses and all raw recruits
being left behind-but with Schramm,
evidently an educated cavalryman, rid
ing buoyantly in the ranks of D troop
on the spirited roam he had bestridden
all the way from the railway. ''What-
ever they look" thought he, ''these
fellows are nightly at homo on the
frontier" Sergt. Schultz explained
that they always left their uniforms in
garrison when in the field after In
dams, but called his attention to the
fact that they never lived better in the
old country than these rough-looking
fellows were living now. Already the
ills Of the summer were forgotten.
Whether he forgot or not, Schramm
made no reply. He was well content
with his rations, for field appetite is
wOndrous sauce, and soldier coffee,
with bacon, beans, Clutch oven"
bread and antelope steak have relish
in the keen October air known only to
the frontiersman. Schramm, from
looking pale, peaked, and a trifie pa
thetic when he stepped from the crowd
ed train at the railway, had sprouted a
fuzzy beard, blistered the skin of his
cheeks and nose in the hot monday
sunshine, scared his eyelids by in
temperate additions in alkai water,
and was making commendable prog
ress in plainscraft and plains English.
In three weeks scouting down the
South Cheyenne, with the Bad Lands
on the right and worse lands on the
left, he became SO proficient in the cav
airy art of pre-empting good patch Of
gI ass for his horse that his troop COM
mander, closely watching his new re-
cruit, remarked that that young fellow
would be a valuable non-commissioned
officer some day, if he hadn't been al
ready. Like the Germans of his het-
erogeneous troop, the captain was of the
opinion that Schramm had history.
One evening, far down the valley
where not an Indian had been seen or
heard of, the outlying sentries report
ed bunch of black-tailed deer III the
foothills to the northwest. Lieut.. Nor
gan was in command of the guard. and
his captain was officer of the day. Nor
gan took a squad of three or four men,
mounted and rode away down the
wind, while a party of officers scram-
b1ed up the bank to the edge of the
broad prairie to watch the sport. 1t
was just then that Schramm, his blue
eyes ablaze, clicked his heels together,
stood bolt upright, and began, color
ing even redder in combined eagerness
and embarrassment, ''Bitte, Herr Ritz
meister," then, desperately plunging
into troopers English as he had heard
it spoken: kin I go along nit dem fell
lers alretty?" and as Manning nodded
assent, he saluted with marked precis-
ion, bored a hole with his heel in the
alkah dust in punctilious execution
of the ''kehrt," sprang bareback on his
horse and rode away, carbine in hand,
after his trooper comrades Half an
hour went by, and the herd, still I'M
4 49, L VI