The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1900-192?, 1901-12-25

"What the devil ought to do?' He
bit his finger again. 81 told Brander
what had done. hit him."
"I'm perfectly aware of that" said,
land don't suppose Ortheris has for
gotten it already"
"Ye-es; but I'm dashed if 1 know
what l ought to do. Exchange into an
other company, I suppose. 1 can't ask
the man to exchange, suppose. Hey?"
The suggestion showed the glimmer-
ings of proper sense, but he should not
have come to me or anyone else for help
1t was his own affair, and told him SO.
He seemed unconvinced and began to
talk of the possibilities of being cash
tered. At this point the spirit moved
me. on behalf of the unavenged Orther-
is, to paint him beautiful word-picture
of his insignifcance in the scheme of
creation. He had a papa and mamma
seven thousand miles away, and per-
haps some friends. They would feel
his disgrace, but no one else would care
one penny. He would be only Lieut..
Ouless Of the old regiment dismissed the
queens service for conduct unbecoming
an officer and a gentleman. The COM
mander in chief who would confirm the
orders of the court martial would not
know who he was; his mess would not
speak;; of him, he would return to Bombay
if he had money enough to go home, more
alone than when he had come out.
FINALLY rounded the sketch with pre-
cision-he was only one tiny dab of red
in the vast gray field of the Indian en-
pire. He must work this crisis out
alone, and no one could help him and no
one cared (this was untrue because l
cared immensely, he had spoken the
truth to Brander on the spot) whether
he pulled through it or did not pull
through it. At last his face set and his
figure stiffencd.
Thanks, that's quite enough. don't
want to hear any MORE" he said, in
dry, grating voice, and went to his own
quarters.
Brander spoke to me afterwards and
asked me some absurd questions as to
whether had seen Ouless cut the coat
off Ortheris' back. knew that Jagged
silver of silver would do its work well,
but contrived to impress on Brander
the completeness the wonderful COM
pleteness, of my disassociation from
that drill l began t. tell him all about
my dreams for the new territorial army
in India, and he left me.
could not see Ortheris for some
days, but was told that when he re-
turned to his fellows he had told the
story of the blow in vivid language.
Samuelson, the jew, then asserted that
it was not good enough to live in regi-
ment where you were drilled Off your
feet and knocked about like a dog. The
remark was a perfectly innocent one,
aud exactly tailed with Ortheris' ex-
pressed opinions. Yet Ortheris had
called Samuelson an unmentionab]c
Jew, had accused him of kicking wom-
en- on the head in London and howl
ing under the cat, had hustled him, as
bantam hustlcs barn-door cock, from
one end of the barrack-room to the 9TH
article in Samuelson's valise and bed
ding roll into the veranda and the out
dirt, kicking Samuclson every time that
the bewildered creature stopped to pick
anything up. My informant could not
account for this inconsistency, but it
seemed to me that Ortheris was work.
ing off his temper.
Mulvancy had heard the story in hos
pital. First his face clouded, then he
spat and then he laughed. suggested
that he had better return to active duty,
but he saw it in another light and told
me that Ortheris was quite capable of
looking after himself and his own af-
fairs. "An' if l did come OUT" said
Terence, ''like as not would be catch
in young Ouless by the scruff av his
trousies an maxim an example av him
before the men. Whin Dinah came
hack would be under court martial,
an all for the sake av little bit av
bhoy that'll make an officer yet. What's
he goin' to do, sorr, do We know?"
"Which?" said l.
''Ouless, av course. I've no fear for
the man. Bedad. though, if ut had come
to mc-but it could not have SO come
Id ha' made him cut his wisdom teeth
on his sword hilt."
81 don't think he knows himself what
he means to do" said.
II should not WONDER" said Terence.
"There's a dale av thinkin' before q
young man whin he's done wrong an
knows ut an is studyin' how to put ut
right. Give the word from us to our
little man there, that if he had ha' told
on his superior OFFICER I'd ha' come out
on fut to Fort Amara to kick him into
the fort ditch, an; that's forty fut
DROP
Ortheris was not in good condition to
talk to. He wandered up and down
with I.caroyd, brooding. SO far as I
could sec. over his lost honor. and us
ing, as l could hear, inccndiary lam
guagc. Lcaroyd would nod and spit, and
smoke and nod again, asd must have
been great comfort to Ortheris-al-
most as great a comfort Us Samuelson
whom Ortheris bullicd disgracefmlly.
If the jew opened his mouth in the
most casual remark Ortheris would
plunge down it with all arms and ac-
coutrcmcnts while the barrack-rOOm
stared and wondered.
Oulcss had retired into himself to