The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1899-06-07
be squirting for a wager.

for drink. Most Of the officers were
with him, and the subaltern of the day
was preparing to go down to the lines
and receive the watering reports from
the troop sergeant majors. When f'Take
Me TO London Again :" stopped after 20
bars, every one in the mess said, "What
on earth has happened?'' A minute
later they heard unmilitary noises and
saw far across the plain the White hus-
sars scattered and broken and flying.
The colonel was speechless with rage,
for he thought that the regiment had
risen against him or was unanimously
drunk. The band, a disorganized mob,
tore past, and at its heels labored the
drum horse-the dead and buried drum
horse-witn the jolting, Gathering skel-
eton. Hogan-Yale whispered softly to
Martyr, "No wire will stand that treat
ment, % and the band which had dou-
bled like hare, came back again. But
the rest of the regiment was gone, was
riotings all over the province, for the
dusk had shut in, and each man was
bowling to. his neighbor that the drum
horse was on his flank. Troop horses
are far TOO tenderly treated. as rule
They can on emergencies do a great
deal, even with II stone on their backs,
as the troopers found out.
How long this panic lasted cannot
say. believe that when the moon rose
the men saw they had nothing to fear
and by twos and threes and half troops
crept back into cantonments very much
ashamed of themselves. Meantime the
drum horse, disgusted at his treatment
by old friends, pulled up, wheeled
round and trotted up to the mess We
randa steps for bread No one liked to
run, but no one cared to go forward till
the colonel made movement and laid
hold of the skeletons foot The tand
had halted some distance away and
now came back slowly. The colonel
called it, Individually ard collectively,
every evil name that, occurred to him
eat the time, for he had set his hand on
the bosom of the drum horse and found
flesh and blood Then he beat the ket-
tledruins with his clinched fist and
discovered that they were but made OF
silver paper and bamboo Next. still
swearing, he tried to drag the skeleton
out Of the saddle, but found that it had
been wired into the cantle. The sight
of the colonel, with his arms round the
skeleton s pelyis and his knee in the
old drum horse stomach. was striking,
not to say amusing He worried the
thing off in minute or two and threw
it down on the ground, saying to the
band, .tHere, yon ours. that's what
YOU re afraid of The skeleton did not
look pretty in the twilight. The band
sergeant seemed to recognize it. for he
began to chuckle and choke. s'Shall l
take it away, sir?'' said the band ser
geant. eyes, said the colonel "take it
to hell and ride there yourselves"
The band sergeant saluted. hoisted
the skeleton across his saddlebow and
led off to the stables Then the colonel
began to make inquiries for the rest OF
the regiment, and the language he used
was wonderful He would disband the
regiment. he would court martial every
soul in it. he would not command such
set of rabble, and so on. and so on.
AS the men dropped in, his language
grew wilder. until at !. last it exceeded
the utmost limits of free speech allowed
even to colonel of horse.
Martyr took Hogan-Yale aside and
suggested compulsory retirement from
the service as a necessity when all was
discovered. Martyr was the weaker
man of the two Hogan put up his
eyebrows and remarked, first, that he
was the son Of lord, and, secondly,
that he was as innocent as the babe IN
born of the theatrical resurrection of
the drum horse
..My instructions, said Yale, with
singularly sweet smile, 'twere that the
drum horse should be sent back as I'M
pressively as possible ask you, Am l
responsible if mule headed friend
sends him back in such manner as to-
disturb the peace of mind of regiment
of her majesty's cavalry 2"
Martyr said, "You are a great man,
and will in time become general, but
I'd give my chance Of troop to be safe
out of this affair.
Providence saved Martyr and Hogan
Yale. The second in command led the
colonel away to the little curtained al
cove wherein the subal alterns of the White
hussars were accustomed to play poker
of nights and there. after many oaths
on the colonel's part, they talked to-
gether in low tones. l fancy that the
second in command must have repre-
sented the scare as the work Of some
trooper whom it would be hopeless to
detect, and I know that he dwelt upon
the sin and the shame of making pub
lie laughing stock of the scare
.They will call Us, :" said the second
in command, who had really fine
imagination-''they will call us the
'fy-by-nights, they will call us the
ghost hunters, they will nickname US
from one end of the army list to the