The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-01-13

to speak lest they should know me, but
waved my sword, and by c. they
followed me. And the next minute we
was in the thick OF it. l had my hat
as fun of holes as that ice strainer;
had dozen bullets through my coat.
the fringe Of my epaulsts was shot
away, but 1 kept the boys at their
work-and we stopped 'em, Stopped
EN-, gsntleTnenl until we heard the
bugles of the rest OF our division, that
al this time had been rolling that
blasted rear guard over on Us. And it
saved the fight But the next minute
the Johnny ReDs made a last dash and
cut me of-and there I was--a. prison
Ter Ne that had saved the fight.'
A ripple of ironical applause Went
round as Hooker gloonlily drained his
glass ana then held UP his hand in
scofnful depreciation.
Il said I was d prisoner, gentlemen,
he went on bitterly. .but that amt
all / asked to see tombstone, told him
what I had done. and demanded to be
exchanged for a general officer. He
said, Not your 1 then sent word to
the division co7nmander-in-chief and
told him how / had saved Grey Oaks
when his brigadier ran away, and he
said, Not you I've bin rebuffed from
the lowest non. com. to the command
er-in-chief, and when l was at last ex-
changed was exchanged, gentlemen.
for two mules and a broken wagon.
But I'm here, gentlemen, as was
tharn'
why don't you see the president
about il ~ asked a bystander in affect
ed comrniseration.
Mr.. Hooker stared contemptuously
at the suggestion. and expectorated his
seornful dissent. "Not much,'' he said.
But I'm going to see the man that
carries him and his cabinet in his
ltbreeches pocket-Senator Boompoint-
err s
ued his auditor, doubtfully. do you
know him?"
Know him?" Mr.. Hooker laughed
a bitter. sardoic laugh. We'll, gem
tlemen, I amt the kind o man to go
in for family influence, but" he added
with gloomy elevation sconsiderin'
he's an intimate relation OF mine by
marriage, 1 should say 1 did"
Brant heard no more; the facing
around Of his old companion toward
the bar gave him that opportunity CT
Escaping he had been waiting for. The
detection OF Hooker and his peculiar
inventions were too chara cteristic Of
him to excite surprise, and, although
they no longer awakened his good
humored tolerance, they were power
less to affect him in his greater trou-
bic. Only one thing he learned-thar
Hooker knew nothing of his wife be-
ing in camp as a spy; the incident
would have been too tempting to es-
ca pc his dramatic establishment. And
the allusion to Senator Boompointer-
monstrous as it seemed in Hooker s
mouth-gave him q grim temptation.
~ ,,lDTy, 4far.'c I'm
derful power; he believed that Susy
would and could help him, Clarence,
whether she did or did not help Hook
er. But the next moment he dismis-
sed the idea with a flushing cheek.
How low he had already sunk even
! to think of it!
1t had been once or twice in his
mind to seek the president, and, under
! a promise of secrecy, reveal a part of
| his story. He had heard many anec-
! dotes of his goodness of heart and gen.
| erous tolerance of all things-but with
this was jOined-so said contemporary
eous history-a, fiippancy of speech
| and a brutality of directness from
which Clarence's sensibility shrank.
| Would he see anything in his wife but
| a common spy on his army; would he
! see anything in him but the weak vic
| tim. like many others, of a scheming
woman. Stories were current in camp
and Congress of the way this grim
humoIist had. with an opposite anec-
dote or a rugged illustration, brushed
away the most delicate sentiment CT
the subtlest poetry, even as he eX-
posed the sham of the Puritanic NOR
atty or Of epicurean ethics. Brant
! lad even solicited an audience, but
had retired awkwardly, and with his
confidence unspoken before the dark
humorous eyes that seemed almost toe
tolerant of his grievance. He had
been to levees, and his heart had sunk
equally before the vulgar crowd who
seemed to regard this man as their
own buffoon, or the pompousness OF
position, learning and dignity which
he seemed to delight TO shake and dis
turb.
! one afternoon a few days later, If
sheer lstlessness of purpose, he found
himself again at the White House. The
President was giving audience to q
deputation of fanatics who, with pa
thetic simplicity almost equal to his
own pathetic tolerance, was urging up
on this ruler of millions the policy o.
an insignificant score, and Brant lis
tened to his patient practical response
of facts and logic, clothed in simple bu