Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1897-03-09
XVIII.

One soft, warm evening in early June
quite a family party had gathered on
the veranda of the old white homestead
AT Pass Christian. The air was rich with
the fragrance of jasmine and magnolia;
a great bunch Of roses lay on the little
table beside the reclining chair, where,
propped up with pillows, Mrs. Walton
was placidly enjoying the beauty of the
moonlit scene and rapturously contem-
plating the stalwart form of her soldier
son. 1t was too much-it was too soon
TO expect OF a southern woman even
SO customary q thing as a change of
mind, when that change involved a con-
fession of interest and pride in the army
blue, but the mother did not live in all
the broad and Borrowing south whose
soul would not have thrilled with pride
and delight, even though hidden and
unconfessed, in reading the ringing
words with which in general orders IL
great union leader had published to his
troops the story of the heroism, devo-
ton, and soldierly skill with which
Corporal Floyd Walton, Troop "X,"
Fourth cavalry, had conducted the de-
Tense of the passengers on the Concho
stage, saving the lives of Brevet Lieut..
Col. Sweet, who was shot early in the
engagement, md of two civilians, and,
though himself twice painfully
wounded, maintaining the defense and
infiicting severe loss upon an over
whelming force of hostile Indians, until
finally dby the arrivalof a detach-
ment of troops and volunteers success
fully and gallantly led by Lieut.. L. N.
Lambert, --teenth infantry (wounded),
and Sergt. Dolan, Fourth cavalry.
sergt. Walton, promoted within the
week, had been granted a months fur
Tough as oon as able to travel, and with
his arm in a sling had fastened home
ward, where within the forty-eight
hours succeeding his arrival he had
time and time again to tell his story of
that fearful day. They had got with
in five miles of the Caliente before dis
covering that only a smoldering ruin
remained of the stage station. Hear
ing from fleeing settlers of the raid,
Col. Sweet had decided to push for
ward at top speed to reinforce the little
party of defenders. The driver had
urged the same course, and the two
civilian passengers had naturally de-
INJURED. Then, when they found it too
late, they turned and strove to retrace
the road to Lampnsas, were headed of
at dawn, but fought a way to Wither-
ellis old dug-out, the driver and two
soldiers being killed, Col. Sweet and the
corporal both shot in the attempt, and
the stage abandoned and burned. And
there in that sitting hole, without wa
ter for the wounded, they had fought
off dash after dash of the Indians; but
their ammunition was almost gone,
and only two men had any fight left in
them, when they heard the welcoming
crack of the rescuers' rifles. Even then
the Indians hung about all the long
afternoon and night, and Lambert got
his painful wound in heading q little
squad that ran the gauntlet to a neigh
boring spring for water for the fevercd
wounded. Of his own conduct Floyd
had little to say. ("What else did they
expect Of a Walton?" was his mothers
comment. SIS bravery so rare an at
tribute in the federal army?") but he
could not say enough about Young
Lambert. I'VE were fighting for our
lives; we had to fight" he said; "but
he risked his to fetch us water. say
that young fellows a trump" And he
flashed a significant glance at Katesie,
for Cousin Bart, with the imbecility OF
manhood, had let that domestic cat out
of the bag, and then, once started, had
told more. Floyd Walton, under pledge
of secrecy, was held a s%pell-bound lis.
tener to Cousin Bart the second night
after his arrival, when the rest of the
family had gone to bed. Bart had
been celebrating his cousins deeds and
rejoicing over his return to the extent
of tangling his tongue, but Floyd could
not trip him on his facts. "If you
don't believe me, you can ask the doc
tor-ask Col. Scroggs--or Walton
he'll be hyuh to-mawwo," said his in.
tormant. "That's the kind of Yank he
is. by Gawd, sub; an if I thought they
was nav like him you bet I'd recon.
struct, too. But the Lawd don't make
too many like him, nor young Lambert,
either"
And when Floyd finally went to his
room that night after the low
ing visit to his mothers bedside, he sal
long at the open easement, gazing out
on the soft, still beauty of the moonlit
night, his heart touched and thrilled
as it had not been for years, and his
pride humbled. While he, wayward
and forgetful of their needs, had left
mother and sisters to struggle for
themselves, and had lost himself i'll vain
dreaming of a sweet-faced girl who he
had early enough been warned was not
for him-while he, reckless, selfish
weak, had abandoned himself to drink
and despair and then to the cold char'
ity of the world-it was an alien ana an
enemy, an uncouth soldier in the hated
blue, who had stood between the strick.
en- and helpless ones ut home and abso'
lutte want md %privation. The good
angel who ministered to them in thcil
distress, even when STIMULATING that
they should never know whence came
the needed aid, and who finally became
the purchaser" of the Gesolate anG
ruined place, thereby supplying the
means to make them SO content and
comfortable now, was that creature OF
strong contrasts, Capt. Close.
Not until long after midnight did
Walton leave his c by the open case.
ment and seek his pillow; but there
was another watcher whose vigil out.
lasted his. In the little batch of let
ters brought by Cousin Bart from the
pnrt oA,oa fl,,t a,.n,,;,,r $40, - xrbtnb