The Press., 1898-12-29

cursed plain until every particle OF dust
raised by tho horses had settled, until.
all the world appeared just as before,
and then each went into her own house.
That night they gathered at the major 9
house and sat gazing out over the dark
ened plain and spoke of the absent ones.
The long weary waiting had begun.
The loneliness was more intense than
ever at the fort. Five troopers ana
lieutenant had been left to guard the
property and the women, and they were
the only signs of life down around the
quarters and the stables. The lieutenant
was morose and gloomy that he should
have been selected as the one to remain
behind and was not accounted much
company to the women the first few
days, but gradually he became recon
ciled to his fate and sat with them ev-
ery evening and talked of the probable
length of absence of the men and dis
cussed the improbability of action
They sent once week for the mail.
The first letters and papers brought
word that the four troops had joined
their regiment, and the letters were
filled with gossip about e~officers ano
their families. for a regiment is naught
but one large family. Then came days
of watching and waiting, and the next
was the movement of troops to Santiago
Then the women knew that the war
had begun in earnest. The full realiza-
ton of it came home to them. The older
women remembered when it was moth
ing for their husbands to be ordered out
to suppress the Indians, while one OF
two remem bered the civil war, bnt
there was nothing of that kind for the
wife of the second lieutenant to remem-
Der. She carried herself bravely, how
ever. and proudly said that she was the
wife of soldier and all soldiers wives
should be brave, q remark that greatly
pleased the others.
The women learned more about he1
now that her husband was not present
to monopolize ali her time. They learned
that she was quite alone in the world.
except for him; that she was an orphan
and that the aunt who had reared her
had died This increased their sympathy
for her, if that were possible, for she had
their sympathy already. They could sec
that her thoughts were all of her hus-
band, but il they endeavored to speak
words of comfort to her she replied II
am soldiers wife.
The news travelled slowly to them.
That perhals was the hardest Their
husbands might have been in battle and
have been wounded or killed; the four
troops might be wiped out and it would
be fully week before they would know
it. When the papers did arrive there
was hurried glance at the headlines
and then for the 1egjmental head.
the battle OF Santiago had been
fought and won. The news had been
telegraphed undersea and overland
and the papers had come out with the
particulars under display headlines II
was Just eek after that the papers
reached the fort The trooper brought
them il, the evening and delivered them
to the women, sitting under the cotton
wood trees that skirted the plrade
ground. The wife Of the SECOND lieuten.
ant had gone for walk and was not
with them. A cry burst from the white
lips of the women. The headlines told
them that their men lad been in the
thick of the fight. They glanced down
the columns, read the account and Of
the deeds f bravery of their men. They
read the list of the dead and wounded.
The wife Of the second lieutenant
came up to them. She saw the papers
lying in the laps of the women; she
glanced at their faces. She read the
truth.
"There has been a battley" she said
interrogatively.
eyes, said one of the women
"And Robert?" she asked.
"He was in the thick of the fight,
leading his men on and cheering them, =
answered one of her companions. "The
papers speak of his courage aud bravery
how he struggled on in the face3of the
deadly fire, encouraging his men. Some
OF the men fell, but with cheer on
their lips for him, and then came an
awful cross fire.
She looked out over the plain, the
moonlight changing the grease WOOD
and sagebrush into shadows and trans
forming the beds of alkali into shining
waves of silver.
II knew he was brave" she said,
"and he was wounded!"
Eyes; very severely, and'- tht
woman's voice broke
There was the sound of sobbing, and
one of the women arose and gently
placed her arm about the waist of the
younger woman.
"My dear began one of them.
She drew away and unwound the arm
about her. Her face was terribly drawn
cam not a soldiers widow she
asked.
Then she turned and walked SLOWLY
into her house. A. Eaton in St
Louis Republic.
1