Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1897-06-24
XVII.

Lieutenant, there's nc use trying
We're only twenty, and there must be
two hundred of 'em. They've got that
stage load long before now, escort and
nil. The whole things over with. II
there were any women 'twould be diff
ferent; every man of us would go then
to try to rescue them; but there were
only men. I'm as sorry for Col. S"eet
as YOU can be; but we can get his body
when the Indians have gone. We can't
efford to lose any more of our people
The speaker was the captain OF
party of Texas frontiersmen-rangers
they were afterwards called, when
their organization was more completes
but these were the days when the Lone
Star state was uninvaded by railways
and when TO It's very heart-far as the
capital - the savage Kiowas anu
Comanches often raided in full force,
ravaging the scattered settlements faT
and wide Lieut.. Lambert, his duty nm
ished with his testimony In the case of
the deserter Riggs, had obtainedpermis-
sion to delay his return a few days and
taken stage 10 Lampasas, where FLOYD
Walton was stationed with his troop.
Lambert would not willingly return
without seeing him and delivering in
person the little packages so hurriedly
prepared at the new home. Then, too,
there was no man in the army In whonI
the Young officer now felt so deep an in
terest. Was he not Katesie's brother,
and might not that brother have some
| influence over that obdurate heart?
1t was not the porter of the hotel who
went for these packages. 1t was Lam
| bert himself, hoping, of course, to see
| the young lady whom he had so sue
cessfully tormented the evening previ-
| Gus; but his scheme had been check
mated in most absurdly unromantic
| fashion. The New Orleans evening
paper among its military items con-
| tanned a brief paragraph to the effect
| that Lieut.. Lambert was ordered over
| to Austin as a witness before n court
| martial there in session, but would re-
turn to the barracks in a week or ten
| DAYS, and this paper he had been care
| less enough to leave on the veranda.
| Katesie had gone miserably to her
| room, Esther had lit upon the para
| graph, and in ten minutes Lamberts
| melodramatic scheme was exploded.
| Never would he forget the saucy merri-
ment in her pretty face when he APP
| peared upon the scene that morning,
| hoping and expecting TO find her peni-
| tent, piteous. and mutely begging to be
| forgiven before he went away He had
! come prepared to be grave, sorrowful,
| dignified. and then to be disarmed by
| I, 20 11r1Iar fh2
| maRnolias to the shaded recesses of the
old southern garden, there to assure
| her that she was pardoned, and then
| to tell her how she was loved. y charm
| ing chateau en- Espagne was that which
| the boy had builded; a sweet, sad, bliss
! full, ecstatic parting was it all to-se as
a result of his skillful use of his-.sad=
! den orders to Texas" but. like many
| another well-laid plan. 1t went ludi-
crously aglee. She was there on the
veranda, romping with her kitten,
when he came and never made the
slightest reference TO his departure.
He alluded gloomily to the fact thatthe
boat would be along in less than an
hour, and she cheerfully responded:
| "Yes; All thought All huhd its whistle
! Just moment ago" and raced pussy
70 the far end of the gallery, He triee
| other announcements with no better
| success, and was bewildered and de-
feated and stung by her apparent
| heartlessness and indifference when at
last he had to go, and went away mis-
erably Jealous and wretchedly in love,
fairly beaten at his own game,
So gloomy and unlike himself was
Lambert that the two or three class
mates who happened to be at Austin
were much surprised, and so absorbed
was he IN his Own woes And pangs that