The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-07-07
Short Story
OF fbe DAY.
ON THE
TRIGGERS
Pull.

e~o-~-~-o-~-o-~~~~-~--~-o
| San Francisco Argonaut
There is always trouble of one sort or
another when woman NEEDLES with
those things which do not concern her
sex.
Obviously, carbtnes were none of Miss
Mivarts concern, If she felt that she
mad to play with firearms she should have
Kept to Flobert rifles. Nothing would do
however, but she must learn to shoot a
crab1ne and the result was that the whole
post rose up and cut Burton, to a man:
so that there was no peace for him any
| longer in that regiment. and ne had to
| seek transfer to another There were
| other results, also, but they come further
| on.
Some thought that what Miss Mivart did
| was done on purpose, and some thought
| that 1t was piece of idiotic Stiffness The
| latter based their argument upon the gen.
| eral friVolousness of her ways, and upon
the tnnocency Of her round, blue eyes
! l ne former held to the belief that Miss
Mivart was one of those women favorites
! OF fortune who look greater fools than
! they are. They said, with certain show
! of reason, that Georgia Mivart was A
child of the service and not an fmborta-
ton from civil life. She had been born
In garrison, and had played with rows
u SAAPN}B SIGeH-IlHlUQeQ cartridge shells
at an age when most little girls play with
paper dolls, She had hummed snatches
of the hugle calls before she could talk,
ana the person she had admired the most
ana obeyed the best for the first dozen
years of her life had been Kreutzer. Capt.
| Mivart's tow-headed striker A few years
OF boarding school back East could not
| have obliterated all that
! Besides, the yer.est civilian. who has
| never come nearer a porhina ha To md -I,
a Fourth of July military parade, might
| reasonably be expected to know by in
| tuition that in target practice competi-
| ton every trigger has got to pull lust so
| hard' Whatever the regulation number or
| traction of pounds may be- Otherwise
II Is plain that the nearer you come to
hair trigger the better your aim will
| be-
However, whether Miss Mlvart was fully
aware of what she was doing, nobody
| ever knew, unless perhaps, it was Gre
Viiie-and he, like Zuleika, never told. But
Burton had a bad time Of it, and all his
beautiful score went for worse than moth
| ing at all.
That, though, was the end. And tho
beginning ought to come first. The he
| ginning was when Miss Mivart undertook
| to learn to shoot a carbine.
| Ihere was target practice competition
| gong on at the post; not one which was
| or any interest to the service or even to
the department at large; just little To-
| cal affair, devised to keep up the esprit
| de corps of the troops and to Tighten the
| monotony Of life There were three con-
| tests, one for troops and companies. as
such; one for individual privates. and one
| LOT otncers. The last was to finish off
ana then there was to be a big hop.
Every one knew from the first when
burton and GrevilIe shot with their
| troops, that the officers competition
| would lie between them. This made II
| interesting in more ways than one be-
| cause the rivalry was not confined to the
target range, but extended to the winning
] OF Miss MfVart's hand and heart. and
| every one believed that this would settle
| matter she did not appear to be able
to settle for herself. Not that she was
to blame for that. Any one, even a
| person much more certain of her own
mind than Miss Mivart was, would have
been put to it to choose.
They were both first leutenants, and
| both cavalrymen and both good to look
| upon. Burton was fair and GreviIIe was
dark, but she had no fixed prejudices re-
garding that. She had often said So
Also, both were as much in love with
| her as even she could have wished. and
were more than willing that all the world
should see it-than which nothing is
! more pleasant and soothing to a right
! minded woman.
The rifle contest lasted ten days, during
| which time the air hummed with the ping
and sing of bullets over on the range and
| with the calls of the markers in the
| rifle pits. Only scores and records and
bets were thought and talked about.
Miss Mivart herself had bet, with all
the daring wickedness of a kitten teas
ing a beetle. She even went so far as
| to bet on both Burton and Greville at
| once. The adjutant undertook to ex-
| plain to her that that was called "hedg-
| ing" and was not looked upon as alto
| gether sporty. Miss Mivart was hurt.
| Was 1t really dishonest, she wanted to
| know. The adjutant felt that he had
been unkind. He fastened to assure her
| that 1t was not-not dishonest in the
least; only that it took away from the
| excitement of the thing to a certain ex-
tent. Miss Miyart smiled and shook
her head. No, she didn't think that it
did. because, of course, she knew herself
| which one she wanted to have win. The
adJutant admitted that that might posi-
bly, be just as interesting for herself and
the fortunate man. And which was he.
If he might ask Miss Mivart shook
her head and smiled again. No, she
didn't think he might ask As the man
himself didn't know, she could hardly
tell any one else just yet, could she?
She had her own ideas about fair play
Il can shoot a earbine, myself" she
| told the adjutant, with her cleft proudly
raised; "and my shoulder is all black
ana blue Mr.. Burton is teaching me-
"Oh!" said the adjutant, "and what
does Greville think about that?' The
adjutant was married. so he was out of
| the running.
Mr.. GrevilIe is teaching me, too said
Georgia.; ''and here he comes for me
now"
Burton was safe on the target range.
| over behind the barracks. Miss Mivart
and Greville went in the other direction.
by the back of the officers row. over In