Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1895-01-24
CHATTER XX

" to the hospital The old father was
watching her from parting in the win
dow curtain, as and she tripped toward
the hospital an expression of satisfac-
ton came over his face. And that is
how Alice came to be installed as
Browns nurse.
Brown slept for two hours calmly
and peacefully. When he at last slow
", half dreamily awoke he felt soft
hand on his forehead, and opening his
eyes they met those of his darling one.
''Ned, my darling, do you know me?
Do you know your Alice?" she whisp-
cred, bending over him.
know you, my blessed angle? OF
course l do" he replied, making an
effort to throw his arms about her
neck. She gently stopped him and
with blush upon her happy face said:
mo, Ned, not here. Someone may
see you. The attaches of the hospital
do not think it strange that | should
nurse my noble rescuer back to health
and strength again, but they might
not see the propriety of me permitting
his embraces. They are not aware
that your nurses heart is all yours,
my darling, every little, tiny bit of it"
"Bless you for those words, my
love. And you have been with me
often the surgeon tells me-"
eyes, Ned, very often, but you were
delirious and did not know me. The
surgeon had almost given you up, and
oh! my darling, my poor heart was
breaking. He has just told me that
you have passed the crisis and will live,
and have been down on my knees by
your cot thanking the Father for spar
ing you to me. Now Ned, dear, listen
to me. You are not yet out of danger,
and you are in my care, and the doctor
has given me imperative orders to Lot
let you talk much am going to obey
orders implicitly, and l am going to
make you obey me. Do you hear that,
MIR. Ned? Here, now, it is time for youto
take your iIcdlcine. ThereI Be careful!
Don't spill it all over your chin. You
careless fellow! You are the most awk-
ward patient ever had"
Thus she vent on in mock reproof.
The happy tones of her voice and the
arch. loving smile which accompanied
her words did him more good than
could any medicine in the post dis
pensary.
But, Alice, must talk. cannot lie
here and"
mo, you must not talk, you rebellious
darling" Then glancing around to see
that no one was near she implanted a
kiss on his pale lips and continued:
"There now, see if that will seal your
lips. You must just lie there and let
me do all the talking. Papa says | am
G little nuisance of a chatterbox any
how, so l guess can talk enough for
both of US"
Then tell me all that has happened
since I lost consciousness behind the
rocks, and l viii lie as quiet as a mouse
and listen" he said, taking her hand in
his and pressing it warmly.
"All right, and don't you forget your
promise or l may punish you again by
sealing your lips. You see, the people
at the fort heard the firing when the
Indians came upon us, and just after
you tainted away Il troop of cavalry
came dashing up with papa at its head.
He sprang from his horse with great
big tears in his eyes, the very first
ever saw there in all my life, and
thought he would hug me to death.
He asked me if the Indians had harmed
me and told him they had not, but
feared You were killed. He stopped
down over you and looked at your pale
face and the blood all over your breast,
and then, O, Ned. he raved like mad
man. never saw him in such pas
sion before! He stamped the ground
and struck the rocks with his sword
and swore oh! just awfully! He called
you by name, and NOW, you mustn't
mind, Ned. for it was only papa's
buster and he didn't mean it) he called
you villain and told you get up and
not lie there making fool of yourself,
aEd said if you attempted to die he
would have You drummed out of the
service. He called You brave, noble
rascal, and said he'd rather lose every
man in the garrison than you. Then
he turned on Capt. Colby and asked
him what In the-bad man, you know
he was standing there for like gaping
idiot while the Indians were escap-
ing, and ordered him to follow and
kill every one of them. The troop
dashed ahead and overlook the Indians
in the sand hills across the river and
had an awful fight with them, for
more Indians had come after the band
that chased us. Papa sent his orderly
flying back to the fort after the sur
geon and an ambulance, and then he
fused around and hugged me and
called you good and bad names until
the surgeon came. Then you were
lifted in the ambulance, papa scolding
the soldiers and telling them he would
annihilate them if they hurt you. On
the way in you recovered consciousness
but were delirious. You kept begging
me to fly to the fort and save myself
and leave you to your fate, and papa
asked if you had talked that way when
you was lighting the Indians, and when
] told him those were your very words
his lips trembled, and he turned his
back and began to abuse the poor
driver for running over stones. And
that's the whole story, dear, from
to lizard.
God bless him, his heart is in the
right place, if his tongue does fly the
track occasionally. Oh, my darling
/"
Her plump little hand was gently
pressed over his mouth, and with a
warning shake of the head she said:
There, there, there! Did | not for
bid you talking? You will find me
hard master, old fellow, for | Will en-
force obedience to my orders. Listenl
hear papas voice in the surgeons Of
fee"
"Cr ne to his senses, eh? Concluded
he'd made an Internal fool of himself
long enough. That's right. That's
right That's sensible, and now you
want to get him onto his feet again and
do it quick, or, damme, III shut up
your drug shop and drum you out of
the garrison. How would you like
that, you old pill mixer? Eh, Doc?"
1T would all depend on the tune
marched to, colonel If the band won ID
play: See the corn-curing hero
comes" or some other air laudatory of
my profession. | don't think | would
mind it much. Brown has certainly
safely passed the crisis, and if nothing
unforeseen occurs will rapidly recover.
But it was close call, colonel. That
shotwould prove fatal in ninety-nine
cases out of a hundred. | can't see
where his heart could have been for that
ball to miss it."
''In his month"; no1ioubt, or Well,
no matter. | think it was not in his
possession at the time. But, pshaw! You