The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-01-04

what YOU would do under given
circumstances. until you have
tried and found out. A cours,
of action which you know to be
absolutely foreign to every in-
stinct within yoti--when YOU sit
down to reason about It, after
tb. monrcr of the age.--inay be the
COOS, ono YOU will follow when there
,s ~, time for rea son. If anyone had
,o,d Mackworth. that under fire ne
vn,,,d he +, coward. Nackwcrth wou'd
have knocked the informant down th"n
md there. and have rejected upon the
1anper to his commission afterward.
N.,ckworth had been graduated too,
but. beinr, IL right minded boy. he re-
,,,,,,hor, that IL was TO Horatius that
the molten image was made, ana not
to the follo,v who built the bridge 50
no very properly chose the cavalry'ahd
heaven rewarded him by sending MN
straight to the frontier. And th's
was in the days when there was
frontier; when men endured discom-
forts that they sigh to know again. as
none ever sighs for the luxuries ol the
past; when the Apache and the Chir
icahua were in the lard, and sun
STRUGGLING to be masters of il: AMI
when Il woman was t"uly BLESSING
of the gods, and might, even under
disadvantages, have her piCk ot the
dcoort,ncnt But as there il no W.
man in all this. that is irrelevant.
EXrcpt after the manner ot cadets
which is not t. be taken seriously
--Mackworth had pot let woman en'er
into his scheme of existence. His Ideals
were of another sort. just then. III"
was Young and full of belief ana
THINGS, and he thought that the way
to win approval of the war department.
and the gratitude of his country was
to avoid wire-pulling and to Kill In
dians. Therefore h" rcioiced greatly
wher, after only six weeks of his
thoroughly uricsirabic garrison, that-
Ia took the ,'hirirahuas on the war;
path and lie was ordered out in the
field. lie had had his kilt all rolled
in IA rubber poEt ho. and his mess
chest pretty we'll stocked for the whole
of the six weeks. lie believed that n
soldier should he alwaEs in readiness.
He believed So many things then
though before long the notion fell out
of his universe, and h" was fillcI with
an enduring skepticisr'. And this was
how ii came about:
The first time h" was under fire was
when they were caught at rather Il
disadvantage among the pines in the
MoSolons. The fight hogan abput
dusk and lasted we'll into the night
1t may have been thr result Of some
bugIboo s,olirs of his lahyhuod. which
had fostered IN u1conuu, rable fear of
the dark. ii may have been some
lurking instinct, ar il may have been
just blue funk which overcome him.
Anyway he hid behind bowlder,
crouchcd and covered there. t.enblinm
50 that his carbinc fell from his hands
Ana Morley, his captain. found him
SO. What are you doing:" he de-
mandcd He was an iishman and Il
soldier of the old school, but he did not
swear. Mackworth knew. from that,
how bad it was. He scrambled up ami
bahhlel. "iet out of there" the cap
tain said. II" would have used bet
ter tone to one of the troop ours.
Mackworth felt fcr his carbin. and
got out, staggering. but no longer
afraid, only ashamed-sickcningl
acknowledgement all endurance He
tried hard To get himself killed after
that. He walked up and down in front
OF his men. giving orders and smok
ing cigarettes, ard doing his best tn
s"rN" as a target. The captain watch .
cd M! ana began to understand. His
frown relaxed: You'd better get un-
der cover" he suggested; you are tax
il$ needless risks Mackworth
looked at him with wide, blank eyes,
and did not answer. His face was not
only white now; it was gray and set,
like the face of a corpse.
Morley's face soft tened. ITS only A
baby, anyway. he said to himself,
land it is unhappy. out of all propor-
tion." And presently he went to him
again. 'Will you get under cover,
Mackworth?' he insisted
NO" sail the lieutenant. II won't"
The captain swore now, fierce oaths.
and loud. Il order you back under
cover. SIR
Mackworth retired. with took at
his superior for which he should have
been court-rlartialed. After that the
scout went the way of most scouts.
being chase of the intangible up
mountain ranges, when you pulled
your horse after YOU; down them.
When he slid atop of you across mall
pals and. desert from the level of the
hiN'lu'AN '.i.Ns ilit t-it'l''t- Nbou 10 tH1t
of the pine and the manzanita. Chat
taS band was at the north, to the
south. to the east and west: but when
the troops got to the spot. after forced
marching, there was nothing.
1t went on for two months. and all
the while Mackworth's despondency
grew. The weight of years was upon
his yet barely-squared shoulders, thu
troubles of lifetime We're written up-
on his face, despite the growth of vel
low beard. He would not be comfort
ed. He was silent and morose. He
would not lift up his beautiful bari
tone in song, be the camp ever so dull.
Only his captain knew why, of course
and he didn't tell Neither did he
attempt consolation. He thought The
remorse healthful. and he anew, be.
sides, that 1t was in such cases a man
has to work out his own conclusions
and salvation. This is the way Mack.
worth eventually tried to work out his
There came one day runner from
the hostiles, a dish-faced, straight.
locked creature of sinews--who spoke
through the White Mountain inter,
prefer of the troops and said that hi.
chief was ready to go back to tn,
reservation but that he must go upo.