The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1898-06-24

There he ldy, '0tth a copv Of lies Mise
rabies"
either "cat" could hear, as each was
known to be unpleasantly ready to back
his views. Both officers had SO far
mended their ways in this respect that
neither would sip from the seductive
bowl, yet each was entirely willing
that the rest Of the commissioned list
should be free agents in the matter,
with the possible exceptions of Brady,
who never drank that he didn't make
an ass of himself, and Rawson, who
never drank that he didn't make trouble
for somebody else.
And about these five men-the major,
whose name is spelled M-a-i-n-w-a-r-
ing and always pronounced Manner
ing" and Ray and Blake, who have
often appeared in these chronicles of
bygone frontier days, and Brady and
Rawson, who have never yet so appear
ed and who never will again so far as
this chronicler 10 concerned-about
these five men and one other yet to APP
pear hangs most of this story-these
six men and just two women.
Place aux danes, though this bivouac
on the Boxelder was no place for them
whatever, and neither woman was there
at the time, and only one of them was
known TO any one of the men referred
to. One OF the women was AIRS. MAIN
waring, and the other, a spinster, was
Kate Leroy.
1t was a hot day, dusty day, and
the command could prove it without the
use of a word as it unsaddled in the
grove and men and horses made for the
nearest water. They had marched since
early morn and covered 30 miles when
the trumpets rang the signal for the
final halt. They had been winding for
hours in long column of twos down the
sandy bottom of vanished creek, and
the sight of this oasis in the desert, the
clump of cottonwoods with its outlying
stragglers farther down stream, was in
deed a grateful one 1t told OF the pres
ence of living water, and the regiment,
said Trooper Kelly. WAS as dhry as
the chaplain's temperance sermon the
night before Patrick's day in the morn
ing.
Mainwaring's four troops, being first
on the ground, pre-empted what grass
there was before breaking for the spring,
Trooper law reserved to the horses of
the owner all space within lariat length
TO the man that Jumped the claim. " In
like manner had the majors striker
pre-empted the biggest cottonwood for
his master roof tree, and there, busted,
shaken and smoothly spread, were the
majors blankets when, fresh from his
dip in the stream, that sturdy, keen
eyed, compactly built soldier came back
for his rest
And there he lay, tho picture of
trooper content, beguiling the moments
until dinner should be ready and try
ing hard not to 90 to sleep meantime
with a copy of Lies Miserables. haul
ed from the depth of his capacious sad
dlebsgs. Having had little schooling to
speak of, Mainwaring was an assiduous
reader Of fiction, and prided himself on
the fact.
Presently, without lifting his eye
from the page or glancing toward the
party interrogated, who was sprawling
in similar fashion under an adjacent
tree, the major popped the following
question;
"Blake, what's savvy Ike pewT
And Blake, without lifting his eyes
from the written pages of the missive in
his lean brown hand, responded, after
the manner of soldier folk, Damfino v
The majors brows contracted in
scowl. Suspiciously he glanced at his
long legged comrade. Thought you
spoke French, " said he
To which Blake blandly responded
with modest and not inexcusable hest
fancy;
"Wcll-er--not always. Isn't it
possibly sauve qui peut?"
"Well, sove Ike pub, then, " Responded
Mainwaring, with disdainful emphasi
on the convenient monosyllable
whats thatY'
THAT" said Blake, sis what tn
, girls say when Brady tries to dance
} jump for youv lives and-Brady take tn
: hindmoc+ polite French for 'th