Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1896-05-21
THE PRIVATE.

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maybe it was all his fault. Anyway,
they had just had a quarrel, and it
was their first quarrel, too.
. He goes directly to the club. There
he meets a few Of his friends, and they
sit down for a smoke, preparatory to
the nights excitement at the poker
table Thus they sit for perhaps half
an hour when the entrance Of rather
fat individual seems to create quite a
cOmmotiOn among the smokers.
Mai Hunt, one Of the most capital
story tellers we have had for some
time" says one of his friends, in reply
to laughing query from Langdon.
The major has hardly made himself
comfortable before he is asked to tell
one Of his stories, and after az lille
yields to the cntreaties OF the crowd
and begins:
There Is not an army post in the
country, or in the world which has
not some little romance interviewer in
its history
ut was about five years ago, at 4
western fort, chat this accident hap
pened. We had there a young private
who came, | believe, from the east
somewhere He seemed 70 be an in
different sort of Il fellow, rarely join
ing the rest of the men in their larks,
and keeping pretty much to himself
1T was his mysterious manners
which made us wonder what he did
with himself during his spare moments
that is, when his time was not re-
quircd 10y Uncle Sam. We tried in
vain to find out.
There was no one at the fort with
nerve enough to ask him the questions
we were so anxious to have answered.
He was the one mystery of the fort.
What was also a mystery to us was
how he had managed to become well
enough acquainted with the quarter
masters daughter TO be seen occasion
ally out walking with her. Her name,
YOU must remember distinctly, Is Gen
evicve Hutle. She was the belle of the
fort
Now, to get down to the story One
day there came the announcement
that the indians had gone on the war
path, and one morning troop of
cavalry was detailed to go out and, if
possible. bring them in. 1t happened
that the mysterious private's troop was
the one detailed to 80 out first on a
sort of a accommodating trip.
t,l,I
storm set in, however, and we kept
anxious watch to see If they would give
up the chase on this account and re
turn to the fort but no, the night
passed away and dawn saw no trace Of
the men
"Thc storm seemed to become more
furious with the advent of day, and
the binding llakcs made IT impossible
to see many feet on side of the fort.
Then misgivings reg riding the safety
Of the mon began to make form.
About noon there was lull in the
wind and SNOW, and couricrs were sent
ont to see If any trace of the troop
could be found The searchers re
turned, however. after trultlcSs
search, saying that it WAS impossible
&c find amy trace Of them, not knowing
exactly where to look for them.
About o'clock In the afternoon,
however, we were rewarded IN our
watch by seeing a dark mass off to the
west and rs it drew nearer shout
went up from the watchers as we DIS
ccrned our missing troop,
"Dut queries were cut short by the
announcement that they had been pnr-
sued by at least zoo Indians, who had
poured bullets into the little troop for
awhile and that one man was missing,
They had not been out of the fort iiNe
hours they said, when they were at
tackled by a band of redskins most I'M
cxpcctedly for they had no idea that
they were SO near the fort iie was
wounded during the fight and had evil
IDENTIFY given up from exhaustion.
"rhe storm had again commenced
with seemingly added fury and We
realized what q dangerous undertaking
il would he for any one to set out with
the Intention of finding the poor fell
lows body
I'VE had all given up the idea of
going after the body by nighuall that
is, all but one.
"Beforc my time for arising the next
morning there came TO my ears the
leudcst cheering mixed with shouts
that | have ever heard in all my life
time. hastily dropped into my
clothes aud ran out to see what was
up
Near the gate | saw almost the EN-
tire population Of the fort, SO Il seemed
10 me, most Of them engaged IN cheer
ing and shouting over something, Re
fore Il reached the crowd i parted and
two persons rode toward me the
mysterious private and GentV'eVe
llutle
THAT girl had actually ridden out
of the fort at dawn to find that Young
scamp. who did not seem to be hurt at
Ill sayp for a fnw scratches Suph AS