Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1901-01-11
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The means and The End. !
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Tough for week" Strathmore consid-
cred and frowned "What'n become of
me, Chester?" he asked plaintively;
''what will l do?'
"O'Toole has promised to take my
place, sir. He was Captain Lacy's
striker for several years, and he knows
his duties, sir.''
Strathmore sighed. VERY good" he
agreed, with sufficiently poor grace, Il
expect I'll make out somehow. Put in
your application with the morning re-
port"
Chester went away, feeling contemp
tible and small, and Strathmore sat and
reflected dismally that it was emergen-
cies of this sort that drove a man to
matrimony. He ought to have realized
that when a man marries because he
thinks the woman can be of use to him,
rather than he to her, he is making a
grave mistake. But he fancied the
vague dissatisfaction with his present
lot was the yearning of affection, and
believed more than ever that he cared
deal. Before Chester left the next day
he stood in front of the photograph
again. "She'll wear curl-papers and his
forage-cap and CAPE" he reflected
aloud. That was his notion of the point
beyond which vulgarity could not go.
Its a devilish contemplate business,
know it Is. But then-my futures all
behind me; and his is all ahead. He's
only boy. He has all sorts of pulp
what a striker does not know about his
master is not worth considering at all
''he will be able to get anything he asks
for in Washington. Not" he mused,
that the American army offers much
for young man just now. But he can
get all it can give. If he behaves him
self and marries the right kind-or bet
ter yet, doesn't marry at all-he may
rise to the soaring height of an attache-
ship. All things are possible with
pull"
He stopped and bent down to knock
the ashes from his brier-pipe into the
fireplace. Then he took the photograph
in his hand and started to put it in the
grip that lay on his bunk. But he
changed his mind and tucked it into the
tray of his trunk instead. And he gave
it last look as he closed down the
lid. 'In which case" he finished, as
he turned the key, "he would be very
likely to meet you"
A hunting leave is only week long.
But great deal can happen in a week
to a soldier who has cut loose and is ac-
countable to no one, or to lieutenant
madly determined to become just the
other way. What happened to Strath-
more was, in sum, this:
The day after O'Toole took charge he
rode over to the Halloran ranch, and
when he came back he was engaged to
marry Mamie Pearle. When it was
done and he sat down to think, he
found that he was not radiantly happy
as he had expected to be. But the way
the sitting-room had been busted that
morning had disgusted him, once and
for all, with single life The next day
he was officer of the day and couldn't
leave the post. The day after that he
had cold which he had caught making
his rounds, and it confined him to the
house.
AS for Chester, the way he put in his
time never did become quite clear. But
for period of six days there was
strange Englishman in a town some fif-
teen miles the other side of the Hallor-
an ranch; some twenty-five miles that
is, or more, from the post. 1t was a
mud town, and its hotel was as bad as
it's reputation, but the Englishman
stayed there. He wore a conspicuous
suit of clothes, and spent money osten-
tatiously. He let it be understood that
his name was Lovatt, and that he was
a lord; also, that he was travelling
through the West, and might, if he fan
cied the country, buy a ranch. 1t was
probably with that end in view that
he rode almost at once to the Halloran
place and explained to the haciendado
that he would like to be shown how a
ranch was run. He met Miss Halloran,
and her father told him that she was
engaged to a lieutenant at the neigh
confning the officer to his house. He
expressed a wish that Lovatt might
meet the lieutenant some day, and
Lovatt hoped that he would 1t was
possibly in this hope that he called at
the ranch for six successive days, but
| always-had he known it-at an hour
when it was quite unlikely that any one
would be coming over from the post
After that they saw him no more.
On the evening of the seventh day
Chester was in charge Of Strathmore's
quarters again. Strathmore was recov-
ering from the cold, and he told Ches-
ter that he had missed him profanely
much. Everything had gone wrong. He
asked what the striker had been doing
with his time.
Chester threw an armful of wood up
on the fire, and stood up, brushing the
chips from his sleeve. "Well, sir," he
| answered, 81 have been getting en-
gagged"
Strathmore's jaw fell. That meant
that he would have to hunt up a new
striker, Of course. Then he remem-
bered Mamie Pearle "That's rather a
coincidence, Chester; so have L"
Chester's congratulation was respect
| full, but not SO cordial as it might have
been. Il shall ask your permission and
the captains to marry, SIR" he said.