Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1896-01-10
Copyright, 1894, by the ]. B. Lippincott Ct
CHAPTER XIX.

IN q deep and bluff shadoWed valley,
hung all around with picturesque crags
and pine crested heights, under cloud
less September sun, whose warmth is
tempered by the mountain breeze, a
thousand rough looking, bronzed and
bearded and powder blaokened men are
esting after battle.
Here and there on distant ridge and
point the cavalry videttes keep vigilant
watch against surprise or renewed at
tack. Down along the banks Of clear,
purling stream sentry PAGES slowly by
the brown line of rifles, swivel stacked
in the sunshine. Men by the dozen are
washing their blistered feet and grimy
hands and faces in the cool, refreshing
water; men by the dozen lie soundly
sleeping, some in the broad glare, some
in the shade of the little clump of vii.
lows, all needless of the pestering
swarms of flies. Out on the broad,
grassy slopes, side lined and watched
by keen eyed guards, the herds Of cav
airy horses are quietly grazing, forget
full of the wild excitement Of yester-
even. Every now and then some one Of
them lifts his head, pricks up his ears
and snorts and stamps suspiciously as
he shifts at the puffs of smoke that come
drifting up the valley from the fires a
mile away. The waking men, too, be-
stow an occasional comment on the odor
which greets their nostrils. Down
stream, where the fires are burning, are
the blackened remnants Of a wagon
train. Tires, bolts and axles are lying
about, but all woodwork is in smolder-
ing ashes; so, too, is all that remains Of
several hundredweight Of stores and
supplies destined originally to nourish
the Indians, but, by them, diverted to
feed the fire.
There is big circle Of seething
fame and rolling smoke here, too-a
malodorous neighborhood, around which
fatigue parties are working with avert
ed heads, and among them some surly
and unwilling Indians, driven to labor
at the muzzle Of threatening revolver or
carbine, aid in dragging to the flames
carcass after carcass Of horse and mule,
and in gathering together and throwing
on the pyre an array Of miscellaneous
soldier garments, blouses, shirts and
trousers, all more. or less hacked and
blood stained, all Of no more use to
mortal wearer.
Out on the southern slopes, just
where a ravine crowded with wild rose
bushes opens into the valley, more than
half the command is gathered, formed
in rectangular lines about number of
shallow, elongated pits, in each of
which there lies the stiffening form of
comrade who but yesterday Joined in
the battle cheer that burst upon the val
ley with the setting sun. Silent and
reverent they stand in their rough cam
paign garb. The escort Of infantry
"rests on arms" the others bow their
uncovered heads, and it is the voice Of
the veteran colonel that, in accents
trembling with sympathy and emotion,
renders the last tribute to fallen COM
rades and lifts to heaven the prayers for
the dead. Then see! The mourning
groups break away from the southern
side, the brown rifles Of the escort are
lifted in air, the listening rocks resound
to the sudden ring Of the flashing vol
ley, the soft, low, wailing goodby Of
the trumpets goes floating up the vale,
and soon the burial parties are left alone
to cover the once familiar faces with
the earth to which the soldier must re-
turn, and the comrades who are left,
foot and dragoon, come marching, ST.
lent, back to camp.
And when the old regiment begins its
homeward journey, leaving the well
won field to the fast arriving commands
and bidding hearty soldier farewell to
the cavalry comrades whose friendship
they gained in the front Of savage foe,
the company that was the first to land
its fire in the fight goes back with di-
minished numbers and under command
of its second lieutenant. Alas, poor
Jerrold
There was a solemn little group
around the campfire the night before
they 60. Frank Armitage, fiat on his
back, with a rife bullet through his
thigh, but taking things very coolly for
all that, is having a quiet conference
with his colonel. Such Of the wounded
of the entire command as are well
enough to travel by easy stages to the
railway go with Maynard and the regi-
ment in the morning and Sergeant Nc
Leod, with his saber arm in sling, is
one of these. But the captain of Com
pany B must wait until the surgeons can
lift him along in an ambulance and all
fear of fever has subsidized. To the colo
mel and Chester he hands the note
which is all that is left to comfort poor
Nina Beaubien. To them he reads aloud
the note addressed to himself:
"You are right in saying that the
matter of my possession of that photo
graph should be explained. seek no
longer to palliate my action In making
that puppish bet with Sloat I did be-
lieve that could induce Miss Renwick
or her mother to let me have copy,
but I was refused so positively that I
knew it was useless. This simply added
to my desire to have one. The photog-
rapher was the same that took the pic
lures and furnished the albums for our
class at graduation, and I, more than
any one, had been instrumental in get
IL l., ,e& On