The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-08-14

fret the campaign may last all sum-
mN, and you can join us, with the 9TH
! er sick. before it's all over"
1T won't last all SUMMER We can
beat them in a week. I've got to go"
Say, son. make the best of it, said
the soldier, soothingly. Now, good
by. Is there anything you want before
we go?"
Il want to CO." said Hube.
But he couldn't go-the doctor would
not allow it. AS a matter of fact, little
! Hubert was not very sick. He had a
! Sprained foot, and that served as an eX-
! cuse for the doctor and the adjutant
and old John, too, to keep him at home,
/ while the soldiers marched away on
/ the campaign. None of his new faith
ers were anxious that he should see,
! so young, the hardshipS of the march,
! of the camp, of the probable fighting.
! He was now two years in the service,
! barely 15 and no soldier was more zeal
! Gus than he Still the doctor said no."
| and all the others laid the responsibility
on the surgeon.
The morning sun shone out cheerily,
| the bugles blew, the guidOnS huttered in
| the wind, the band struck up march,
and off went the troops. Once round
the parade they came and saluted the
flag, then out of the post by the road
that wound on to the plain beneath the
hospital hill. At the window of the
ward Hubert watched them with ,yearn-
ing eyes bedEnmed. He felt a shame
that he was not able. to march at his
place with the band, making part of
that valiant music. When the last wa
gon of the following train passed be-
hind the hill, he threw himself on his
cot in grief, and refused all consola-
ton.
AS the days passed, he heard, from
the soldier nurses and the gossip of the
patients, all about the expedition. The
Apaches (whom some have described as
more artful than Spaniards and twice
as daring while about as cruel) were,
up, and the battalion of infantry TO
which Hubert belonged had been sent
to camp at the foot of the mountain
pass, through which cavalry were to
drive the Indians. In a week the COM
mand should be on the spot, if not in
tercepted and detained by Indian Skin
mishers. Hubert heard it all eagerly,
and fretted until he was thin. Every
day he asked the doctor if ne could
leave the hospital, and every day the
Jolly doctor said. wait awhile till you
are stronger" Then one day he was al
lowed out, only to learn that there was
no chance of his being sent to join the
battalion, because there was no way or
sending him.
Hubert felt that, in all kindness, he
had been deceived. He did not think
of the kindness. only of the lost oppOr
tunity, because he had never forgotten
his promise to old John. and the good,
fat cooks words, I'VE will be s,roud of
you some day as we are fond of you
now" How" the boy cried, bitterly
to the distant mountains, where, per-
hapS, at that moment, his comrades
were fighting, How can you ever be
proud of me if you keep me at the post
like an old womanr'
He mourned one day in solitude, and |
the next the doctor Indignantly learned
that little Hubert of the band had
borrowed pony and revolver from the
coloneFs son of his own age, and had
ridden off during the night with his be-
loved cornet and some bareback and
corned beef
1.-The little rascalr' said the good doc
tor Now / begin to wish l had let
him go with the rest"
Then they sent messengers to bring
him back. but the willy Hube, riding
hard by night and laying low by day, |
escaped them so that the messengers |
much abused by the worried doctor and
all the ladies of the post.
He rode more swiftly than the column |
had marched So it came that on the
fourth day, after resting his horse |
through the heat of noontide, he lOped !
easily, close on sunset, over the grassy I
bluffs and hOllows, the great waves of
the foothills. To his ears came the /
sound of distant firing ahead, clearly /
because of the great silence of the
plains, yet turned to low sullenness by !
the distance. Hubert put spur to the |
piucky pony and his eyes shone with |
excitement, for at once IL came TO his !
mind that those were his comrades. For
five minutes he galioped ahead excit- |