Waterbury Democrat., 1901-06-07
CHAPTER II.

/ fall and <<yinter following Erie Lang don's ~departure- There were some thipes and many soldiers Captain Ma ftan's money could not buy, and a x<fuder shock and harsher awakening to his true position this plutocrat battery man could not we'll have had than came to him in that scene at the sta fion. He had gone thither to meet and escort to his quarters two prominent and wealthy railway officials from the distant east, one of them a relative of his wife He had counted on their coming to make a profound impression in the big garrison, and his arrange ments for their entertainment included two days of quail shooting, a riding party, some special drills and three or four elaborate dinners, with dancing to follow in the evening. His first im- pression on catching sight of the crowd at the station was one of complaeency the officers and men were gathered there to get an early glimpse of his dis ffnguished guests. It never occurred lo. him that Langdon would be going away on that train, still less that any. number of the garrison should go to bid him farewell and godspeed. He figured that Langdon would have to hang about the post a day or two set fling up his affairs. He had made in- quiries as to the amount in which Langdon was indebted to the mess and fo the establishment still maintained at the edge of the reservation by the 1escendants of an old time post trader. When, therefore, he stepped from his stylish carriage as the footInan sprang down and opened the door, he was startled and shocked by the apparition of Langdon himself and stunned speeches. by that bitter denunciation. Glancing about him, he saw some half hundred soldiers, with sprinkling of civilians, and not one face that re- dected anything but sympathy for Langdon and dislike for himself. The rush of the incoming train released him from the humiliation of his position, as the men swarmed about Langdon, ea- ger to clasp his hand, while the cap- tain, friendless and alone, hastened to the rear sleeper to meet the magnates. To lead them to his carriage he was compelled to return through a throng of his own men just as the train began to move, and stentor of a sergeant shouted, Three cheers for Lieutenant Langdon, the best officer of Battery pr whereat. with lusty lungs and swinging caps, the soldiers shouted again and again until the train slipped away round the bend under the bluff, and not one of their number had so much as a look, much less a salute, for the. captain. It was no time to resort to discipline then t'I'll fix lem for this when I get lem back to barracks" he sWore to himself, but the sorest. heart ed, bitterest mansto return that morn ing from the railway to the post was he who rolled homeward in his cush- toned chariot, with liveried retainers on the box and untold wealth beside him.
 It ehafed him, too. that Woodrow, May and other young officers should gallop past him on the homeward way without so much as peep at his inn posing companions or a touch of the cap to him. The magnates were vast ly interested in tha dashing riding Of the party and in Mays beautiful thor oughbred and asked questions concern ing them which only added to Nathan's keen sense of humiliation and defeat He couldn't reach kIay, for that young gentleman was Melville's adjutant and kept his mount in his own little stable fin rear of the bachelor quarters. But Woodrow was poor and rode a battery saddle horse, and that evening at sta bles the captain sent for him and, with cutting emphasis, informed him that the order permitting officers on tempo rary duty with the light batteries to use public horse applied only to ocea- sions of drill, parade or prescribed ex- ercise. No officer in my battery, sir, ', he concluded, ''can be permitted to use my horses to scatter dirt in the faces of my guests and to race impudently past the battery commander without a salutation of any kind" Woodrow stood at attention, saluted, waited moment and said, Anything further, sir2y to which Nathan responded, That's all, sir" And then as, with another punctilious salute, the subal- tern was about to turn away the idea that had been uppermost, the sting and humiliation of the morning clamor- ing for expression, forced from Nathan the very words Woodrow was longing to hear and that he lost no time in rnshing off delightedly to tell to his Fellows at the club: There is one mat ter you need to be warned about and one that, should it come to the ears of the commanding officer, may yet sub- 5ect you to arrest and court martial, your prominence in that riotous, even mutinous, demonstration at the depot this morning. When officers and men conspire to cheer person dismissed in disgrace from the army, they attack the administration and are guilty of gross insubordination. I shall not re- port the occurrence myself because of my known antagonisIn to such charac ters as Mir. Langdon, but you'll be most fortunate If the colonel does not hear of it."
 Now, Woodrow had taken no part in the cheer-that was a matter confined almost entirely to the enlisted men but he had no objection whatever to Nathan's believing he did and would have openly rejoiced had Nathan pre- ferred charges against him. It would have been bliss to disprove them. As