The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1894-05-04

tie W1tn the men. he anecteQ rather
the society Of the better class Of non
commissioned officers, an offense not
likely to be condoned in recruit. He
was already distinguished for his easy
mastery of every detail of cavalry
mans duty, and for his readiness to go
at any or all times ON scout, escort OF
patrol, and the more hazardous or lonely
the task the better he seemed to like it.
Then he was helpful about the Offices
garrison, wrote q neat hand, was ca
ten pressed into service to aid with the
quartermaster or commissary papers,
and had been offered permanent daily
duty as company clerk, but begged off,
saying he loved horse and cavalry
work too well to be immured in an Office.
He was silence and reticence itself on
matters affecting other people, but the
soi,l of frankness apparently where
he was personally concerned. Any
body was welcome to know his past, he
said. He was raised in Texas; had
lived for years on the frontier; had
been through Arizona with bull team
in the fifties, and had listed under the
banner of the Lone Star when Texas
went the way of all the sisterhood of
southern not border) states, and then,
being stranded after the war, had bull
whacked" again through New Mexico;
had drifted again across the Mimbres
and down to the old Spanish Mexican
town of Tucson; had tried prospecting,
mail riding, blackboard driving, gam
bling; had been one of the sheriff s posse
that cleaned out Sonora Bills little
band of thugs and cutthroats and had
expressed entire willingness to officiate
as that lively outlaws executioner in
case of his capture.
He had twice been robbed while driv-
ing the stage across the divide and had
been left for dead in the Maricopa
range, an episode which he said was
the primal cause of his designations
later. Finally, after summary dis
charge he had come to the adjutant at
Camp Lowell, presented two or three
certificates of good character and bray
cry in the field from officers who bore
famous names in the southern army,
and the regimental recruiting officer
thought he could put up with an occa-
sional drunk in man who promised to
make as good trooper under the stars
and stripes as he had made Under the
stars and bars. And so he was enlisted,
and to the surprise of everybody hadn't
taken drop since.
Now this, said the rank and file, was
proof positive of something radically
wrong, either in his disposition or his
record. 1t was entirely comprehensive
and fully in accordance with human
nature and the merits Of the case that a
man should quit drinking when he quit
the army, but that man with the blot
Of an occasional spree on his escutcheon
should enlist for any other cause than
sheer desperation and should then be-
come teetotaler was nothing short of
prima facie evidence of moral deprav-
ity.
"There's something behind it all, fell
lers, said Corporal Murphy, land 1
mean to keep an eye ON him from this
out. If he don't dhrinlk next payday,
look out for him. He's professional
gambler laying for your hard earned
greenbacks.
And so while tho seniors among the
sergeants were becoming gradually the
associates, if not the intimates, of this
fine looking trooper, the mass of the
regiment, or rather the little detach-
ment thereof stationed at Lowell, looked
upon Bland with the eye of suspicion.
There was one sergeant who repudiated
him entirely, and who openly professed
his disbelief in BANDS account of
himself, and that was Feeny. "He
may have testimonials from all Texas"
said he holly, "but I've no use for that
sort of credentials. Who can vouch
for his goings and comings hereabouts
before he joined us? think Murphy's
right, and if was stationed at Lowell
and belonged to his troop you bet I'd
watch him close"
Now, in all the command it would
have been hard matter to find SOL
der in whose favor appearances were
so unanimously allied. Tall, erect,
sinewy and active, he rode or walked
with an easy grace that none could fail
to mark. His features were fine and
clear cut; his eyes dark hazel, with
heavy curling lashes and bushy, low
arched brows; his complexion, naturally
dark, was bronzed by sun and sand
storm to hue almost Mexican. He
shaved clean all but the heavy mus
tache that dropped over his firm lips,
and the sprinkling OF gray about the
brows, temples and inustache was
most becoming to his peculiar style.
One prominent mark had he which
the descriptive book of his company
referred to simply as saber scar on
right jaw, but II deserved mention
more extended, for the whitish streak
ran like groove from just below the
ear tip to the angle OF the square, reso-
Lutte chin. it looked as though in some
desperate fray mad sweep had been
made with vengeful blade straight for
the jugular. and, just missing that,
had laid open the jaw for full four
inches.
But, said Feeny. what could he
have been doing, and in what position
could he have been, sitting or standing,
to get saber stroke like that? Where
was his guard? A bowie knife, now