Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1899-05-20


and horses were in all stages os easiness
and the carbine buckets Topping against
their sides urged the horses on. Men
were shouting and cursing and trying
/ I'd pull clear of the band which was be-
ing chased by the drum horse, whose
rider had fallen forward and seemed to
be squirting for a wager.
| The colonel had gone over to the mess
! for a 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 Take
Me to London Again stopped after 20
bars, every one in the mess said, what
on earth has happenedg ~ A minute
later they heard unmilitary noises and
saw far across the plain the White bus
.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
h0rse-with the jolting gathering skel-
eton. Hogan Yale whispered softly to
Martyr, mo 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
rioting 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 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 environments very much
ashamed of themselves. Meantime the
drum horse, disguised 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 tie skeleton foot. The band
had halted some distance away and
now came back slowly. The colonel
called it, Individually and collectively,
every evil name that occurred to him
at 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-
InG1 hi III 81
discovered that they were but made of
silver paper and bamboo. Next, still
swearing, he tried to drag the skeleton
out of the saddle, bat found that it had
been wired into the camille The sight
of the colonel, with his arms round the
skeletons pelvis and his knee in the
old drum horses stomach, was striking,
not to say amusing. He worried the
thing off in minute or two and threw
it down on fhe ground, saying to the
band, Here, you 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 "Shall
take it away, sir said the band ser
ge4nt Eyes, said the colonel, '''take it
to hell ara ride there yourselvesp'
The band sergeant saluted, hoisted
tho 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 |
asset 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 a 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 Y ale put up his
eyebrows and remarked, first. that he
was the son of lord, and, secondly, |
that he was as innocent as the babe I'M
born of the theatrical resurrection of
the drum horse.
my instructions, . said Yale, with a
singularly sweet smile, ''were that the
drum horse should be sent back as i'm
pressiVely as possible. I ask you, Am
if a mule headed friend
sends him back in such manner as to
disturb the peace of mind of regiment
IF her majesty's cavalry p
Martyr said, ''You are a great man,
and will in time become a general, but
d give my chance of troop to be safe
outof this affair. =
Providence saved Martyr and Hogan
Yale The second in command led the
colonel away to, the little curtained al
,ove wherein the subalterns of the White
lussars were accustomed to play poker
If nights, and there, after many oaths
IN the colonel's part, they talked to-
,ether in low tones / fancy that the
econd in command must have repre-
ented the scare as the work of some
whom it would be hopeless to
letect, and know that he dwelt upon
he sin and the shame of making pub
ic laughing stock of the scare.
"They will call u.s. = said the second
n command, who had really fine
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