Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-02-17

being firmly imbedded he should find him.
self In the air again.
The whole troop was in an uproar now
out above the sounds of laughter arose the
| colonel's voice.
| Catch that horse, somebody" he roared
rake hold of him. one of you menu
Maybe the nameless black heard this
order, and determined to give the colonel
the first chance, for, head down and tail
up, whangfng and banging he charged
down upon the commander of the post
Now; the horse the colonel rode
was tried veteran. He had once faced
cracking rifles and had ridden UP at the
head of a charge against a band of scream
ing. shrieking hosiiies, but this strange
looking thlng coming down upon him was
100 nuch for his nerves. He swerved: the
colonel leaned forward as il to take mat
ters into his own hands and put stop to
the riot. but he reckoned entirely without
trusted one, could stand the strain no
longer. With a snort of terror he stretched
out his neck and bolted. The colonel tried
to stop him. If there had been an uproar
Deiore, 1t was chaos now! Straight upon
the heels of the colonefs nag came the
bounding, resounding mixture of drum and
morse. and, worse luck. the coloners
charger had lost his head completely In
stead of turning to the open country to the
west, he made off to the eastward straight
Tor the post laundry, where some OF the
that had hung all day in the bleaching sun.
Into the mixtures of linen and clothes bas-
kets the colonel rode. A line caught him
under the chin. but luckily parted The
horse became frightened at the sight of
one of the laundresses who was projecting
herself BY f1ourishing a red petticoat ap-
parentiy at his head, he whirled and once
more the colonel emerged upon the parade
ground, while behind him streamed the line
OF clothes. He looked for all the world
like dismantled kite. If there had been
a any personal 2'ia danger attached to the
might nave tried to come to his assistance
AS 1t was most Of the men could hardly
keep their saddles Carter and the other
cast his eye at his own company. The
sight of Murphy he could never forget
Both his legs were hanging free of the stir
rups and kicking wildly He would have
! fallen had it not been that the troopers
on either side were endeavoring to keen
him on the saddle.
Hurroo, hurroo." he was wailing at the
top of his voice; laughter was beyond him:
ne could only make loud and extravagant
noises, noises that had never been heard
before, yelps and shrieks. wild cachinna-
tons that threatened his very existence
The tears were rolling from his blackened
| bruised eyes. He would catch his breath
and then burst into a roar of incoherent
nomrse-slmply noise-no words, just sound!
Inc cause OF all this turmoil had swerved
out or the clothes yard back into full view
again: His bucks were becoming less vio-
| ient from sheer exhaustion. Ard now the
drummer, as if to assert himself and relea Sc
| himself from the disgrace of having lost
control or his mount-a horrible thing to
happen to any cavalryman-ran out His
nne uniform was ripped up the back, his
helmet was gone, but nevertheless he
headed straight for the black horse and
the latter. as IL perceiving that here was
another victim. made straight for him. The
big man made stand of 1t and reached
for the bride, but the crazy animal turned
quickly. The drum swung around in front
OF him, and, how it happened no one knew,
the iashings that held 1t broke, and the
hrst thing the regiment knew the drummer
was disentangling himself from the broken
barrel much as a clown would step from
paper ring. He picked up the debris and
hmped on toward his quarters. And now
the colonel having succeeded in stopping
line, was shouting orders. Something like
attention was restored, and the line. visibiy
shaking, was formed again.
Sergt. Schneider rode out and touched his
cap to Lieut.. Carter, who, in the absence of
his commanding officer was acting captain
of his company.
May one of my men fall out. sir?" he
asked. "A bit of sunstroke think sir"
Carter gave permission. He turned round
and saw Murphy, too weak hardly to sit ON
his horse, make his way toward fhs
stables, his feet hanging loose from his stir
rups and his whole body wavering back and
forth. Another trooper had hold of the
bride.
An orderly galloped down the line. Client
Garter, the colonel asks you to report to
him at once"
Carter rode UP. There was not the ghost
of smile on the coloners HARDEST features
"Mr. Carter" he asked. stern]y, did you