The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1900-10-05
ON The TRIGGERS PULL
How . Prise Was
Won and Lost.
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have kept to Flobert rifles. Nothing
would do, however. but that she must
learn to shoot a carbine, and the re-
suit was that the whole post rose up
and cut Burton to a man, so that there
regiment, and he had to seek transfer to
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 silli-
ness. The latter based their argument
upon the general righteousness 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 a certain show of reason, that
Georgia Mivart was child of the service
and not an importation from civil life.
She had been born in 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 obeyed the
DGst 1OT Tue uESI uOZGu yeuES VI ucT
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 a Fourth of July militia parade.
might reasonably be expected to know by
intuition that in target practice compe-
49, =. h..
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
Greville, 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 Mivart under
took to learn to shoot carbine.
There was a target practice competi-
tion going on at the post-not one which
was of any interest to the service or even
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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 at once, when Burton
and Greville shot with their troops. that
0fE1 Gould Hn hn-
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 Miyart's
hand and heart. and every one believed
that this would settle a 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 Greville 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 1t. than which nothing is more
pleasant and soothing to a right minded
woman.
The rife contest lasted ten days, dur
ing which time the air hummcd with the
ping and sing of bullets over on the
range and with the calls Of the markers
in the rife pits. Only scores and records
and bets were thought and talked about.
Miss Mivart herself had bet with all
the daring wickedness of kitten teasing
a beetle. She even went so far as to bet
on both Burton and Greville at once.
The sdjutant 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 adjutant ad-
mitted that that might possibly be just
as interesting for herself and the fortu-
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 adjutant. with her cleft chin
proudly raised; land my shoulder is all
M 10 tnonh ~
me-"
ooh" said the adjutant. "And what
does Greville think about it?" The adj
jutant was married, so he was out Of the
running.
"Mr. 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 Mivart
and Greville went in the other direction.
by the back of the officers row. over in
nailed the top of a 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.
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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
fancy shooting to distract her. He
found q mushroom can and threw it into
the air and filled it full of holes. She
had seen Burton do the same thing that
morning with a tomato tin. In fact,
from where she sat now on lichen COW
cred rock she could see the mutilated can
glittering in the sun over beyond the
arroyo. So she thirsted for fresher SEN
sations.
'I'll tell you," she said to Greville as
he held up the mushroom can for her to
inspect the eight holes he had made with
Ave shots, ''let ME toss up your hat. and
you make hole through the trademark
in the crown"
1t was a nice, new straw hat. Gre
vile had sent east for it, and it had
come by stage the day before. 1t had
cost him. express paid. $4.75. This. too,
at time when anything he had left after
settling his mess and suffers and tailor's
bills went into stickpins and candy and
books and music and riding whips for
Miss Mivart. But he took off the hat
and gave it to her without even linger-
ing glance at that high priced trademark
within. And he felt that it was worth
four times $4.75 when she picked up the
tattered remains at last and asked il she
might have them to hang in her room.
Then she looked down at her grimy
hand and considered the first finger.
crooking it open and SIT. 81 think it's
going to swell" she pouted. THAT is a
perfectly awful trigger to pull"
Greville did what any man might have
been gxpee4ed to do-he caught the hand