The Penn's Grove record., 1896-03-13
TROOPER BAPTISTFi

Jeau raptiste was a
Ereuchman, aud his proper place III NE
would have been the woods OF Ne"
Brunswick or Nova Scotia; but, through
drink and the devil and women or
q woman he was a trooper In troop
of the Seventh United States cavalry
Regiment, Which company was STATION
ed at Fort Conejos, in Colorado. Now.
the meaning Of ~couejos Is plainly COZ
eys," which are not, again, to be Bibilo-
ally rendered as rabbits, but us prairie
dogs: and Trooper Baptiste was, when
sober, just as mild, and even milder,
than any prairie marmoset In the whole
sage brush country. Fol- prairie logs
will bark" or rather whistle. at one,
and BaptIste only looked at a man with
great round, foolish black eyes. which
could be very fond OF a friend and
show 1t most pathetlcally. But, In
spite of this gentleness, there was q
terror hanging about him, for he was
superhumanly strong. His very hand,
nay, his foretinger, was something TO
beware Of; he could break clny-pip"
bowls between two fingers; he could
smash u cocOanut with his fist; he
could shoulder n great brass howitZer
that commonly took five men to handle
without being faxed" He was u
very devil of muscle, and when he was
drunk his mind went wrOng-he got
mad. The whole troop was scared IF
him. Yet, not all of them literally. tor
one, Jack Robertson, the Englishnlan,
could even handle him like q child-fOr
Jack didn't drink, himself.
But how 1t was that the whole troop
didn't take 10 liquor, and having got
drunk. didn't cat its universal throat.
was a puzzle. For the fiat plain was
sage brush and a!kall, and when II
didn't rain it froze, and when the freeZ-
Ing was over a norther blew fit to per-
tsh a whole squadron, man aud horse.
and when the n0rthers ''petered" the
southerly winds came up from the low
hnds, and across Texas it was Ike n
recreation ground in he'll, with dirt and
hent and flies. Some of the mel got
o%phthalmia aud went blind or saW
double or blinkcd vaguely through a
ruined life hereafter, and some desert
ed and died of alkali like the bullocks
OF n team on the White desert or the
great Mohave, and others got into diff
culties and were knitted by Mexicans,
or some border rutian, even worse to
handle or reckon on; and some, like
Judas, went out and hanged them
.o1-pp fNp41,nx loA sold tI,nt- nRNr, gN,tIJ
for an American eagle which struck
its claws of iron through their hearts.
Oh, it's not good to be a soldier In peace
time anywhere, but to he one at a Uni
ted States outpost in Il sage brush des-
ert, where the devil reigns in the off
GERS hearts Mt being In such a hole. is
worse than all. For there is no chance
of glory or Of fighting. AT the very
best a man rarely gets the chance OF
reddcuing his hands If he spares his
own carotid and is delicate about his
own angular. So they drink and glmple
and die-aud TIE fools don't desert.
About tltree-4uarters of a mile from
conejos on the road to Chama there
was O Mexican shebang-a log shanty,
q grog s!muty-and in 1t most people
got rid of their cash very promptly
some got rid Of their lives. too. 1t was
q favorite haunt OF Raptiste's. though
they did not much like him there. For,
being 4 soldier. they had a natural ten
derneSs about finishing him in the usual
way. They were afraid of his con
rades. Bat one day word came to the
camp that trouble was brewing Mt Mex
lean Joe's. Baptistc was drinking, and
his rage was rising like n cyclone that
comes quickly and bursts all at one
"Whcre's Robertson?" said the Cor
poral OF the guard, and they reused the
young fellow out. They knew he was
the only one who could handle the
Frenchman. They ran down the road,
five of them. and the dirt rose in clouds.
They choked in ten yards aud each
strove to be first. Then they spread
out like skirmlshcrs and left dirt be-
bind each, instead Of smoke.
What's this" said the Corporal as
they came within fifty yards of the
shanty.
For out OF the door there came a
.ann's body. 1t rolled over and over,
and then II appeared to be alive. Just
as tiIeownerof that apparent corpse dis.
proved the Inference Of his eternal limp
ness, another body dropped on him, and
then a third came, and the three rolled
dustily, and rose up white and voluble
when they got their breath. Then Bap-
tIste came outside. roaring in French
and Spanish and good round United