The morning times., 1895-11-04


first say Il am sorry" And it was their
first quarrel, too.
Then he fails back on that old resort aud
says II am going to the club He gets his
hat and coat ami is about 10 open tire door
to step out when sire haif rcpents and asks
him not tu go, but to stay at home WIN her.
lat least one evening in the week.r Bot ne
is either obstinate t,r her appear or dues not
hear her, ior is,- c.uscs the door with Il Dang
and leaves her alone, to rcturH, perhaps at
midnight. perhaps at dawn. 1nen SIDE takes
the usual course, throws herself on a lounge
and cries.
He goes directly to the club. There he
meets a lev OF nis friends ami they SIT down
Tor smoke, preparatory to The nights ex-
citement at the poser table. Thus tncy sit
Tor perhaps half an hour, when the entrance
OF q rather Iat Individual seciDs la create
quite comni"tion among the smokers. He
Is besieged on the right ami lett Ia come and
join them in their smoke, and Robert Lang
don wonders who this rather stout indlyid-
uai who enjoys such popularity can be.
Maj. Hunt, one of the most capital story
teiier5 we have had for some time, - answers
one OF ms frien1s, i'll replying To- a laughing
query from Langdou. wait until you hear
one Of his stories; you will think so, too"
Major, this is my friend Langdun"
1hS hi'joi uaS udtuly iudue himself COM
Portable before he is asked to tell one of
his stories, and after a wbile yields 10 the
entreatles OF the crowd, and begins:
Ihere Is not an army post in the coun-
Try, or In the world, that has not some
NIUE romance interviewer III us history.
But one which l especially remember IL
one In which the faithfulDess OF a woman,
as l viii call it, played such an important
part as to nix the story in my mind for
ever.
1T was about five years ago, at q
western fort, that this incident happened.
we had there young private who came, /
believe, from the North some where. / never
did lind out exactly where he did come from,
and l have even forgotten bis name now.
He seemed to be an indifferent sort of a
fellow. rarely joining the rest of the men
IN their larks. and keeping pretty much
TO himself. He was a handsome young
man, too. nearly six feet TALL If remefn-
Der correctly. II was his mysterious man
ners which made us wonder what he did
with himself IN mis- spare nIonicuts-tliat is,
when his tipe was not requi.,rd by Uncle
sam. We tried in vain TO lind out. All
that we could ever learn of him was that
he was always in his mess room during
these intervals, and his companion pri-
Yates there said, He reads and reads all
the time that's all. Army life did not
seem to agree with tim very much, and
we could not see why be ever entered into
1t. Still there was no one In the fort with
nerve enough TO ask him the questions
we We're SO anxious TO have answered He
was the one mystery of the fort. Per
haps you VIII wonder why we officers
should take any interest To a common pri-
Vate, but before am through you VIII see
why that was.
what was also a mystery to US was how
he had managed to become Well enough ac-
quainted with the Quartermaster's daugh-
ter TO be seen occasionally out walking with
her Her name, you must remember dis
tinctly, is Genevieve Hutle. She was the
belle Of the fort / do not believe to this
day that there was hardly a man In that
fort at that time who would not have
stood even Indian torture IL she had so
wlshed-but don't be alarmed, gentlemen.
No such thought would ever have entered
that girls mind And then she was very
beautiful. Perhaps this had something to
do with It. Those amoug US who had
been sick had especial reasons for feeling
grateful TO her, for as soon as she heard
OF a case OF sickness she seemed to be on
pins and needles until she received consent
from her father to nurse the sick one,
whether he was officer or private. In
truth, her kindness and charita bleness to
all made adorers out OF half the men in
the fort, and the other half were dead In
love with her.
Now, to get down to the story. One
day there came the announcement that
the Indians had gone on the warpath and
that the men should be got In readiness
to leave at almost any moment to hunt
down band Of rowing bucks who were
thought to be in our neighborhood, before
they had much chance of robbing and kill
ing the settlers. One morning the COM
mand came. and troop of cavalry was de-
.rfIZ
them in. The matter had now taken quite
serious turn, for the few bucks who had
started the depredations on small scale
had been joined by the others, until several
hundred of them had gone on the war
path in dead earnest. 1t happened that
the mysterious private's' troop was the
one detailed to go out first on sort of
reconnoitering trip. and If on investi-
cation it was thought necessary to send
out more men they were to return for re-
endorsements.
ut was busy see ne 1.-THE fort that morn
ing. Soon the bugle sounded, the men
leaped into their saddles and moved up to
the gate of the fort. 1t was a proudmoment
for the men who composed that troop, for 1t
was their first actual expedition after an
enemy. Then came the sound OF the bugle
again ana the men We're off, with the cheers
of their comrades ringing in their ears.
I'VE in the fort had many anxious hours
that day and mig bit, wondering how the ex-
pedition would turn out. though We little
though bit that there would be any serious re
suits. They would probably return, we
thought, with the whole band of redskins as
prisoners. We had no idea that the red
devils would dare defy them or much less
fire on them.
During the nighta terrible snow stormset
in, however, and we kept anxious watch to
see If they would give up the chase on this
account and return TO the fort. Butno. The |
night passed away and dawn still saw no
trace of the men. The storm seemed 10 be-
come more furious with the advent of day
and the binding flakes made itimpossible to |
see many feet outside the fort. Then misgiv-
ings regarding the safety of the men began |
to take form. wehad now almost forgotten |
about the Indians and our only thoughts |
were of the men and how they would man |
age to return to the fort in this terrible |
storm. About noon there was lull in the |
wind and snow and couriers were sent out |
to see If any trace OF the troop could be |
found. They might be wandering few |
miles outside the fort, we thought, unable to |
find the way in. The searchers returned, |
that 1t was impossible to find any trace of |
them, not knowing exactly where to look for |
them The ground, of course, having been |
covered by the snow storm after their de- |
parture, it was impossible to follow in |
their tracks.
About o'clock in the afternoon, how
ever, we We're rewarded in our watch by |
seeing a dark mass off to the west, and as
it drew nearer a shout went up from the /
watchers as We discovered our missing |
troop.
when the men rode into the fort again
they were piled with questions as to what
they had done during the terrible storm.
But the queries were cut short by the an
that they had been pursued by |
at least 300 Indians, who had poured bullets
into the little troop for awhile, and that /