The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1900-09-21
ON THE TRIGGERS PULL
How Prize Was
Won and Lost.
BY GWENDOLEN OvERTON.
l;;i;.

those things which do not concern her
sex.
Obviously, carbines were none of Miss
Mivart's concern. If she felt that she
had to play with firearms, she should
have kept to Flobert rifles. Nothing
would do, however, but that she must
learn to shoot carbine. and the re-
suit 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 he 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 it was piece of idiotic Sill
ness. The latter based their argument
upon the general frivolousness of her
ways and upon the innocency of her
round, blue eyes. The 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 q certain show of reason, that
Georgia Mivart was a child of the service
and not an importation from civil life.
She had been born in a garrison and had
played with rows of empty, green rim
med cartridge shells at an age when most
little girls play with paper dolls She
had hummed snatches of the bugle calls
before she could talk, and the person she
had admired the most and obcyed the
best for the first dozen years of her life
had been Kreutzer, Captain Mivart's
towheaded striker A few years of
boarding school back east could not have
obliterated all that.
Besides, the veriest civilian, who has
never come nearer to a carbine than to
watch Fourth of July militia parade,
might reasonably be expected 10 know by
intuition that in target practice compe-
tition every trigger has got to pull just
so hard, whatever the regulation number
or fraction of pounds may be- Other
wise it is plain that the nearer you come
to a hair trigger the better your aim
will be-
However, whether Miss Mivart was
fully aware of what she was doing no.
body ever knew unless perhaps it was
Greyile and he, like Zuleika, never told.
But Burton had bad time of it, and all
his beautiful score went for worse than
nothing at all.
That, though, was the end. And the
beginning ought to come first. The be-
ginning was when Miss Miyart under
took to learn to shoot a carbine.
There was a target practice competi-
ton going on at the post-not one which
was of any interest to the service or even
to the department at large; just little
, local 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
for the officers. This last was to finish
off, and then there was to be big hop.
Every one knew ut once, when Burton
and Greville shot with their troops, that
the officers competition would lie be-
tween them. This made it interesting in
more ways than one, because the rivalry
was not confined to the target range, but
extended to the winning of Miss Mivart's
hand and heart, and every one believed
that this would settle matter she did
not appear to be able to settle for her
self 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 lieutenants and
both cavalrymen and both good to look
upon. Burton was fair, and GreviIle was
dark, but she had no fixed preiudces 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, dur
ing 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 Miyart herself had bet with all
the daring wickedness of kitten teasing
beetle She even went so far as to bet
on both Burton and Greville at once.
The adjutant undertook to explain to her
that that was called "hedging" and was
not looked upon as altogether sporty.
Miss Mivart was hurt. Was it really
dishonest? she wanted to know. The ad-
jutant felt that he had been unkind.
He fastened to assure her that it was
not-not dishonest in the least; only that
it took away from the excitement of the
thing to a certain extent. Miss Mivart
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 adiutant ad-
mitted that that might possibly be just
as interesting for herself and the fortu-
nate 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.
81 can shoot a carbine myself" she
told the adiutant, with her cleft chin
proudly raised; land my shoulder is all
black and blue. Mr. Burton is teaching
me-"
"Oh!" said the adjutant. "And what
does Greville think about it?" The adj
jutant was married, so he was out of the
running.
"NIr. Greville is teaching me, too" said
Georgia. land here he comes for me
now"
Burton was safe on the target range,
over behind the barracks. Miss MVart
and Greville went in the other direction,
by the back of the officers row. over in
the foothms across the creek. Greville
nailed the top of big red pasteboard
box to the trunk of a tree, and Miss
Mivart hit it once out of 16 times-when
she was aiming at the head of prairie
dog at least 20 feet away to the right.
The other 10 shots were scattered among
the foothills.
Then her shoulder hurt her SO that
she was ready to cry. Greville would
have liked to have her cry upon his own
shoulder. but as she didn't he did some