The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1897-10-22

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?
It was not the porter of the hotel who
went for these packages. 1t twas 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 brief paragraph to the effect
that Lieut.. Lambert was ordered over
| to Austin as a witness before court
martial there in session. but would re-
turn to the barracks in 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 Lambert's
| melodramatic scheme was exploded.
Never would he forget the saucy merri-
ment in her pretty face when he ap-
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
| her distress, to lead her away under the
| magnolias 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. a charm
ing chateau en- Espagne was that which
| the boy had builded; sweet, sad. bliss
full, ecstatic parting was it all to be as
result of his skillful use of his sud
den orders to Texas" but. like many
another well-laid plan. it went ludi-
crously aglae. She was there on the
veranda. ror,ping with her kitten,
when he came and never made the
slightest reference to his departure.
He alluded gloomily to the fact that the
boat would be along in less than an
hour, and she cheerfully responded:
Eyes; All thought All huhd its whistle
just moment ago." and raced pussy
to the far end of the gallery. He tried
other announcements with no better
| success, and was bewldered and de-
feated and stung by her apparent
heartlessness and Indifference when at
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
| not until he reached Lampasas did he
learn that the soldierly-looking man
| who rode all the way from the capital
| with him was no less a person than
the Brevet Lieut.. Col. Sweet of whom
he had heard so much at Tugaloo, and
| who, promoted to the rank of major,
was now on his way to report for duty
at frontier post. The stage with the
colonel rumbled away on its journey
for supper. Lambert went on out TO
camp, only to find that Corporal Wal
tor with four men had gone as escort
to that very stage, as there were ru-
mors that the Comanches and Lipans
were on the warpath again. 1t might
be four days before they returned. 1t
would be two before a stage went back
to Austin, and it was now nine o'clock
at night.
The very next morning brought dire
full news. a big band of hoStiles had
swooped down on the stage station at
the crossing of the Caliente, so miles
TO the northwest, massacred everybody,
and run off the stock. The cavalry
troop in camp at Lampasas was miles
away by the time the tidings reached
Lambert at the tavern in town. Then
| came worse news. A settler rode
! say that he had seen the Indians when
they attacked the stage with overpow-
ering numbers, and had just managed
| TO escape with his own life. He De-
| lieved that not one soul was left to
| tell the tale. There were many gallant
| spirits among the Texans of the from
| tier-men who were accustomed to
| fight at the drop of the hat, and who,
| in defense of home and friends, were
| indomitable. Yet even these well knew
| the hopelessness of the situation as de-
| scribed. They were far too few in
| number to undertake the pursuit and
| attack of such band as this. More
| over, their own wives and children
would be left in danger were they to
take the field. It was even impossible
| " lSuduS Two w tuIcC VI CutlI uuIl-
Der to ride post-haste on the trail of
| the cavalry, who, at the first alarm
and on receipt of tidings that the In
dians had ridden away eastward to-
wards the Brazos, had taken the road
for Waco at dawn in hopes of heading
them OF or driving them should they
attack the defenseless settlements.
There were, therefore, absolutely no
troops to go to the rescue of the stage
party, if, as seemed beyond hope, any
of them were still alive, and Lambert,
burning with eagerness to do some
thing and tormented with anxiety as
to the fate of Brother Floyd" found
himself helpless.
| a sergeant and some semi-invalided
men had been left in charge of camp,
and from these he gathered a little in
formation, but not of an enlivening ma
ture. The nearest posts to the west
ward from which help might come
were McKavett and Concho, each over
a hundred miles away; but Concho, be-
ing on the left bank of the Colorado,
and doubtless warned by this time of
the Indian raid, could be sending cav
airy down the valley in pursuit. It
was expectation of this, probably, that