The Florence daily tribune., 1899-02-09
THE LAST STAND.


Just the same rs ever. The tall pines
lent their tops as A.olian instruments
to the warm night wind. The two horses
at the long stretch OF picket line TOOK
rest from the lrbors of the day herd
bnt the knowledge of lowering. ghast!
death was in the heart of every troope-
Farm camp and escort the one
made for savages whose last intention
it was to farm. the latter entirely in
adequate in case of outbreak-and 80
Troop VI of the -th. armed and silent
was awaiting the coming Of Geronimo's
malcontcnts the last chance of retreat
gone and the chance Of any rider mai
ing his WY ont and to Fort Apache for
re-enforcements precluded.
Sanford w Calhoun. first lieutenant
and troop commander tall. 1.-the. the
handsomest man in his regiment the
leader of bah and of social wherever he
might he quartered- been deeply
thinking and had sought relief in low
converse with his cosmopolitan first ser
geant a man OF infinite possibilities
and-a past.
ITS all up with VI of the til this
time. Majendie Calhoun said and
Majendie answered with short laugh
"Yes
Calhoun shuddered The mans blase
reclflessness had Jared him before
And you've nothing to regret, nothing
TO hold you to the life we shall quit
no fear -
Majendie laughed again, with snecr
ON mis- cynical face. mo. lieutenant;
neither regret nor fear I've drained
life : cup of nectar and also her cup Of
gall to the dregs I've had my good
time and my bad time, and if the end
is here I'm ready.
Calhoun sighed II wish | was ser
geant, but am not Lifes sweet ser
gcant It's never seemed 80 sweet as
now. when it's going. You see. I've
only tasted the cup as yet, And it's
good, sergeant, very. very good-yol
understandf
The sergeant smiled inscrutably. He
knew why life held SO much for his
commander. pictured to himself the girl
wife with her frstborn back there Mt
Fort Grant and pitied the brave, selfish
man at his side more than her
Il understand, lieutenant. he said
Then he indicated young trooper close
by-a fair, boyish recruit ON his first
field duty.
lyon see young Wilson there, lien
tenantg' he went on ''Well, you aud
he and l represent three distinct types
of manhood. Wilson is one of the most
innocent, pure minded kindly lads | I've
ever come in contact with--a mother 3
boy. Will he fight for the life that was
never yet his, but hersT According to
all that has been written in fiction YES.
He says his prayers regularly and he
reads his Bible, and in his own belief
he is ready to stay or go at the Master 5
will. Lieutenant, that boy will die
with horror and fear in his eyes-a COW
ard
Calhoun shuddered again. but asked
the question. And II
Malendie smiled looking at the
fine, clear cut features of the American
aristocrat. "The lieutenant he said,
'will die Ike the man | know him 70
be, bravoly, but the bitterness of it viii
seize him and hold him. There will be
resentment in his eyes-a grudge
against fate,
''And you y
And I-harkl BY God. sir, they re
opening the balll"
1t was dawn, The Apaches had heon
waiting for it. A bullet clipped Ma
jendie's ear. another spattered dirt in
Calhoun's face. The sergeant laughed
Cynical and sneering. n man whose
only popularity lay in his acknowledged
smartness, the moment transformed
him. One leap landed him at the side
of the boy recruit behind huge pine
tree, and then through it all, through
the crashing and yelling the horror and
despair of the last fight as man after
man went down, the long legged ''citi-
zen of the world cheered the remnant
by word and deed.
He saw the lieutenant leap and fall.
saw the boy recruit. with the horror of
it in his despair stricken eyes, sink at
his feet. and then
When the squaws of .Geronimo's
band swooped down on the dead of
the martyred NJ, they came across three
men whom they left untouched of mu-
tilating knife-th first, the boy farm
instructor because she who claimed
him loved him, the second because,
through some strange cause, none de
sired TO touch the Young white chief.
the third and last because he, game to
the end, was in their sight the bravest
of the dead, And in the eyes-of the first
lurked dread, in those of the second bit
terness but in the eyes of the third.
there dwelt a wondrous-peace-
And, 10, when men came to search
the three untouched bodies in after