The Opelousas courier., 1900-09-01
The Duty Soldier.

petit said nothing about it, but it was
corrected as soon as possible"
81 don't see that Jemmett and
Whippett sound at all alike" pro-
tested the widow.
"No, but on the telegraphic code
they're much the same"
"How stupid of these horrid news
papersl" the widow calculated dis
gustedly.
"Well, it really was not SO stupid"
the colonel argued. "For it might,
in a sense, have been I, instead Of
Whippett, that did it,"
"How do you meau?" asked the
widow sharply.
swell, you see," replied the col
onel, a trihe %nervously, "Ali Pindah,
where was Ben Williamson, who had
to be relieved, was at the apex of an
isosceles triangle of which a line
drawn between Fort Dufferin, where
Whippett was, and Fort Nicholson,
where I was, would have been the
base"
"That conveys no idea to me-" re-
turned the widow pettishly. "Can't
you use plain English?"
81 mean to convey said the colonel
desperately, "that Whippett and /
we're eluidistant from Ben William
son, and il was q toss up which of us
made a dash for him"
"And why were you not the n to
do it?" queried the widow.
"You know I never was o dashing
fellow" answered the colonel humbly.
"You don't mean to say you were
afraid?" she said after a little while.
The colonel nodded his head. "I
was afraid"
She waited vet awhile before deliv-
ering what she meant to be a taunt;
~ cannot understand why You did
not follow your fathers profession"
II ha not enough brains for it,"
he said simply. Besides, / am at
tached to my own trade-so attached
that I do not know what will become
Of me after another year"
What happens them" she asked,
W4tuUub IUt6f0SGs
81 shall be RETIRED" he told her.
''The age clause falls heavily on a man
like me who has never had O chance to
distinguish himself"
81 thought you had Whippett's
chance" she cut at him.
For a moment he stared at her stu
pidly, then said without bitterness, but
reproving'y as a father to O child: 81
e you have not understood me. You
have perhaps forgotten that your hus-
bands nickname for me was The
Duty Soldier
"Yes," she retorted, without weigh
ing her words, land he defined it as
one who is afraid of God and man, and
for his own skin"
Her teeth closed on her tongue as
she said the last word, for Colonel
Jemmett arose AMI shook himself. ST
see that my call has been an intrusion
on you; | shall not repeat the indis-
erection. Goodby."
"doodbyr" sue repeated mechan-
ically, and touched the bell. She felt
powerless to detain him, but looked
wistfully at the door when it had
closed behind him.
Ten days later she had q letter
from him bearing the Southampton
p%ostmrak. 81 am leaving for the
Tirah," no said, ssto command a b:i-
gade. If I had done what you wished
in the Black mountains I should
have risked the lives of 500 men,
women and children. / was afraid to
do this. Perhaps in this new bust
ness I may be able to present the
Duty Soldier in a better light-at
least, in one which you can see"
After oil, be can be ironical," the
widow said, and wondered if he could
escape retirement. She thought she
might write to him.
Colonel local Ma orr eneral Jem-
NETT received the widows letter the
morning Of the day his brigade was
to attack the enemy's position. IT was
the first battle in which Le found him.
self his own commander, and such q
time is not the best for reading o
woman's particularly a beloved
woman's-letter. He was q duty sol
dier, and though the touch of il
burned his fingers, he put it in his
left breast pocket unopened.
It was good, he thought, to have
her writing next his heart; bat he al
most renraached himself for thinking
about il at ahs Things were not going
SO we'll in thissanpaign that any man
could afford confederation of his pri-
vate affairs. Okn. by name Winter,
he who commanded the brigade 81
the other side of<fthe big hill yonder,
by thinking of.6is chances of winning
&C. B. had slcrifced TIE better part
Of o battery of i'll spared artillery. II
Jemmett were to follow his example
the welfare of athriving district would
be ieopardized. As it was, he would
have 10 make head against a very su.
perior force il Winters disaster wers
to be retrieved. His second in com
mand had observed to him that Win.
ter's i~mprudence was good, inasmucI
az he, Jemmett, would be sure OF q
C. B. now if he could counterfeit the
effects of it.
In reply, Jemmett did what he sci
dom did; he snuhbed the second il
command, who went away and laughed
at him, and then damned an aide-de
camp up hill and down dale for doing
the same.
The enemy had brought two Of til,
four captured guns into action against
Jemmett, and the second in command
was for opening the fight in the or,
thodox way by knocking these OF
L 4fnSn Aannsa-.e. 49, -.ea--