The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1899-09-09

hWel9 0rtheFis replied, dancing with
! rage. II just like you and your ives
Ere's u company drillin' like drunk
militia regiment"
so I've been officially acquent," was
the answer from on high; 'sbut I'm too
sick this tide to make certain"
''An' you, you fat H'Irishman, ,shiftini
an shirltin' up there among the arrer-
root an the sage. ~
An the port wine. You've forgot
the port wine, Orth'ris. It's none SO
80 bad" Terence smacked his lips pro-
voIxingly.
AN we're wore OH our feet with
these 'ere--kangaroOs. Come ont o.
that, an earn your pay. Come on down
outer that an do somethin' stead o.
GRIMM up there like Jew monkey,
you frowzy-headed Fenian."
when I'm better av my various COM
plants I'll have little private taIkin'
wild you. In the mennwhile-ducltr'
Terence flung an empty medicine-bo
tie at 0rtheris' head and dropped into
a long chair, and 0Ftheris came to tell
me his opinion Of Mulvancx three
times oYer-cnch time cntirel, varying
all the words. -.
''Taercn be a smash-up one o. these
days" he concluded well, it's no
fault o. mine, but it's ard on B com
pany." i,...s
1t was very hard on b company, for
twenty seasoned men cannot push twice
that number of fools into their places
and keep their own places at the same
time. The recruits should have been
more evenly distributed through the
regiment, but it seemed good to the
c1lonel to mass them in a company
where there was n large proportion Of
old soldiers. lie found his reward early
one morning when the battalion was
advancing by companies in echelon
from the right The order was given
to form company squares, which are
compact little bricks of men very nm.
pleasant for line Of charging cavalry
to deal with. i company was on the
left flank, and had ample time to know
what was going on. For that reason,
presumably, it gathered itself into q
thing like a decayed aloe-clump, the
bayonets pointing anywhere in general
and nowhere in particular; and in that
clumP, ROUNDED or mob IL stayed till the
dust had gone down and the colonel
could see and speak. He did both, and
the speaking was admitted by the regi-
ment to be The best thing the ''old
man" had ever risen to since one dc. |
lightful day ut sham-6ght, when a |
cavalry division had occasion to walk |
over his line OF skirnishers He said, |
almost weeping, that he had given no
order for rallying groups, and that he
preferred to see q little dressing among
The men occasionally. He then apolo- |
gized for having mistaken d company
for men. He said that they were but
little weak children, and since he could
not off them each a perambulator and
J nursemaid (this may sound comic to
cad, but d company heard it by word
IT mouth and winced) perhaps the
oest thing for them to do would be to 70
back to squad drill. To that end he
sending them, out Of their
urn, to garrison duty in Fort Amara,
i've miles away. Ut may be observed
hat i company were next for this de-
estable duty and nearly cheered the
olonel) There he devoutly hoped that
heir own subalterns would drill them
death, as they were Of no use in their
resent life.
1t was an exceedingly painful scene
nd made haste to be near B company
arracks when parade was dismissed
nd the men were free to talk. There !
1as no talking at first, because each
Id soldier took new draft and kicked
i'm very severely. The non-commis- !
oned officers had neither eyes nor
ars for these accidents. They left the I
nrraeks to themselves, and Ortheris :
oproved the occasion by speech.
ID not hear that speech, but fragments s
1t were quoted for weeks afterward 4
covered the birth, parentage and
lucation OF every man in the compa. {
by name, 1t gave complete ac- q
unit of Fort Amara from d sanitary
I'd social point of view, and it wound c
with an abstract of the whole duty Z,
a soldier each recruit, his use in
e, and the speakers views on the c
e and fate of the recruits Of b com
NY.