The Princeton union., 1900-10-04

lslnSA, ~ ,,IllllcS 1urGleT SClll, In the heart.
Iof the grand pine-covered heights, was
the rock-bound gateway to a lovely.
park region within. called by the
Sioux some wild combination Of al
most unpronounceable syllables, which,
freely translated, gave us Warrior
Gap, and there at last accounts.
strengthened by detachments from
Frayne and Reno, the little command
OF fort builders worked away, AK in
hand, rifle at hand, subjected every
hour to alarm from the vedettes and
pickets posted thickly all about them,
Pickets who were sometimes found
stone dead at their posts, transfxed
with arrows, scalped and mutilated,
and yet not once had Indians in any
force been seen by officers or man
about the spot since the day Red
Clouds whole array passed Brooks
troop on the Reno. trail, peaceably
hunting buffalo. "An' divil sowl in
the outfit" said old sergt. shaughnes-
sy, that hadn't his tongue in his
cheek" 49,
| For three months that hard-worked
troop had been afeld, and the time
had passed and gone when it's young
first lieutenant had hoped for leave
to go home to see the mother and Jess.
His captain was still ailing and unfit
for duty in saddle. He could not and
would not ask for leave at such a
time, and yet at the very moment when
he was most earnestly and faithfully
doing his whole duty at the front,
SANDER was busy with his name long
miles at the rear.
Something was amiss with Burleigh,
said his cronies at Gate City. He had
come hurrying back from the hills,
had spent a day in his Office and not a
cent at the club, had taken the night
express unbeknown to anybody but
his chief clerk, and gone hurrying
eastward. 1t was time when his
services were needed at the depot, too.
Supplies, stores, all manner of MAJ
terial were being freighted from Gate
City over the range to the Platte and
beyond, yet he had wired for authority
to hasten to Chicago on urgent per-
sonal affairs, got it and disappeared.
Ayoung regimental quartermaster was
ordered in from Emory to take charge
of shipments and sign invoices during
Burleigh's temporary absence, and the
only other officer whom Burleigh had
seen and talked with before his start
was the venerable post commander.
One after another the few cavalry
troops (companies) on duty at Emory
had been sent afield until now only
one was left, and three days after Bur-
leigh started there came a dispatch
from department headquarters direct
ing the sending of that one to Frayne
at once. Capt. Brooks troop, owing
to the continued illness of it's COM
mander, would be temporarily with
drawn and sent back to Emory to re-
place it.
Marshall Dean did not know whether
to be glad or sorry. Soldier from top
to toe, he was keenly enjoying the
command of his troop. He gloried in
mountain scouting, and was in his ele-
ment when astride spirited horse.
Then, too, the air was throbbing with
r1lmors of Indian depredations along
the northward trails, and everything
pointed to serious outbreak any mo-
ment, and when it came he longed to
be on hand to take his share and win
his name, for with such a troop his
chances were better for honors and
distinctions than those of any young
ster he knew. Therefore he longed to
keep afield. On the other hand, the
visit paid by Jessie's school friend,
little "Pappoose" Folsom, was to be
returned in kind. John Folsom had
begged and their mother had consent.
ed that after a week at home Jess
should accompany her beloved friend
on a visit to her far western home.
They would be escorted as far as Oma-
ha, and there Folsom himself would
meet them. His handsome house was
ready, and, so said friends who had
been invited to the housewarming,
particularly we'll stocked as to larde1
and cellar. There was just one thing
on which Gate City gossips were en-.
abled to dilate that was not entirely
satisfactory to Folsom's friends, and
that was the new presiding goddess
of the establishment.
"What on earth does John Folsom
want of housekeeper7" asked the
helpmates of his friends at Fort EN-.
ory, and in the busy, bustling town
why don't he marry again?" queried
those who would gladly have seen some
unprovided sister. niece or daughter
thus cozily disposed of. It was years
since Elinor's mothers death, and YET
John Folsom seemed to mourn her as
fondly as ever, and except in midwin
ter, barely month went by in which
be did not make his pilgrimage to he1
never-neglected grave. Yet, despite
his vigorous years in saddle, sunshine
or storm, and his thorough love fol
outdoor life, Folsom, now well over so
could no longer so lightly bear thu
hard life of the field. He was amazed
to see how his sleepless dash to head of
Red Cloud and his days and nights O.
gallop back had told upon him. Won
en- at Fort Emory who looked with ap