The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1897-10-15
6HPThIN CLOSE
BY CAPTAIN CHARLES KING.
Copyright, 1894. by J. b Lippinco,t Col
XHI.-CONTINUED.

| " GU could, easily, Dut you uOn "dhe
to, or you would have given me my cap
long ago."
"Oh!" and the jaunty kept went
spinning into the darkness of the night
and the little lady stamped in fury at
her own blunder. Take your cap, ana
CO."
We'll" said Lambert. with provok-
ing GOODNESS, IF I'm to follow my cap
it hasn't gone towards camp at all. IL
seems-excuse me if l come back Tor
Ilight-it seems to have dropped close 10
that old arbor of yours among the rose
bushes, where you sit in the summer
moonlit evenings. Suppose we leave /,
as an excuse for me to drop around
next time you go there.
But now she seized candle and went
bounding down the steps. A moment
search among the bushes, and she found
it-also him, for he calmly followed.
There's your cap" she sald' ana
yawnduh's the gate!"
He looked up in affected pain and
establishment.
"Why, Miss Katesie!-I supposed you
were simply acting on my suggestion
and we were going to have such lovely
time at the bower. That's why l fol
lowed"
"Oh, All should like to tay-uh your
tongue out. You know All hate the
very ground you stand on"
The gloom in his face gave way in
stantly to radiant Joy. You do?-
really?' he cried. "Oh, 1 never hoped
for that! 1 thought you loved every
inch of this ugly old state and that
never could coax you to leave it. Do
you really hate it SOP"
But now, fairly beside herself with
vexation, the girl had turned and fed
her little feet seeming to fly up the
worn old steps that groaned and creaked
under any other touch. He stood gaz-
ing after her a moment, the teasing
merry smile still lowering about his
| lips. then picked up the cap she had
hurled to earth, and walked blithely
away.
Not ten yards from the gate came
Corp. Cunningham on the run. Capt
Close desired to see the lieutenant at
once. A negro stood by the campfire
in front of Closes tent, trembling from
either fear or excitement or both. his
rrotruding eyes fixed OF the form OF
old Rasmus, who was eagerly jabbering
to the company commander.
do you know anything bout this,
lieutenant" asked Close. These
darkies say there's been big row over
towards Vernon. and that Walton
Scroggs is among the killed"
XIV.
The first Christmas a young fellow
spends in the army is one he is apt 20
remember. What he did in years be-
fore, or of what nature were the festiv!-
ties in those that followed, may, il:
course of time, become but vague ant!
shadowy pictures before the minds
eye. After something like 20 years OF
service as commissioned officer Mr..
Lambert was heard to say that never
even when a homesick plebe at West
Point, had he passed so forlorn i
Christmastide as that which immedi-
stely succeeded his graduation.
The rain was beating down in sullen
shower upon the bare and dripping
woods and sodden fields; the roads
were deep in mud; camp. of which he
was once more commander, vas wet
and cold and cherries: in the adjoining
tent lay his senior officer groaning on
a bed of pain, hands and face blistered
and bandaged, hair and eyebrows gone.
scorched and blackened timbers, a
couple of brick chimneys. and the stone
foundations, were all that were left Of
Walton Hall.
The story brought in of the big row
at Vernon, though exaggerated, had
been sufficiently confirmed in the
course of an hour or so that wintry
evening of Lambert's last visit to the
homestead, to warrant his being or
dered thither with half the company
to support the civil authorities in re-
storing peace" Close reported the
situation by telegraph to department
headquarters. and the action taken BY
him, his dispatch reaching the general
commanding the next day an hour or
so after that official had been ordered
from Washington to send full particu.
lars of the disturbance in his bailiwick.
for the federal officials in the south and
the partisans of both sides of the pc
litical questions at issue had worked
the night wires for all they were worth.
and the early morning papers were
lurid with details of the tragic out
break.
1t was midnight when Lambert
started on his march with two excited
deputy marshals for guides. Five miles
out they met some horsemen conveying
an old carriage containing Walton
Scroggs. seriously wounded. and doc
tor. With the escort Lambert held
brief parley. also with the wounded
man, who, though weak, was full of
pluck and spirits: his sole anxiety
seemed to be on the score of his wife
and the shock the news would cause
her. The account given the young Off
GER of the circumstances leading I'D 20
the facts differed radically from that
with which he and his commander had
thus far been favored. This was to be
expected, as up to this point their sole
informants were either negroes or 4
couple of whites of the Parmelee stamp.
In the north, as a rule. the affair APP
peared to have been a wanton and I'M
provoked attack by Walton Scroggs and
his friends upon some negroes who had
been instrumental in securing his ar
rest-nothing short, in fact, of a red
handed act of vengeance, as was evi-
r