Waterbury Democrat., 1901-06-25
TEN YEARS TRIAL @ @
 Tbe Story of a Soldiers Struggle By Brigadier General
 CHARLES KING Copyright, 1901, by Charles King.
CHAPTER XV
Copyright. 1901, by Charles King.

In the valley of the south Cheyenne and close to the rugged cliffs of the Black Hills a summer camp had been pitched, and nearly a thousand troops were undepfcanvas. After four months of bitteH weather and experiences guarding thousands of morose, .sullen savages, cowed into subjection after then fiery outbreak, old "Cat' and his treopers were reveling in the poetry of soldiers life in the field, and Melville, fwith two of the batteries, was keeping them company. They were far enough from the agencies to be free from daily contact with begging, bothersome h. dians and near enough to the railway to have daily supplies from the east. Mrs. Cat had taken a notion that she should of all things enjoy a summer under canvas, and even the assurance that it meant ruin to the complexion did not deter certain regimental beau ties from following her example. Cat
 would have said no at the outset had he seen what it might lead to, but he didn't, and if he had would probably have been, overruled, Mrs. Cat being
 woman of much mettle in all matters of domestic economy. She came, had an extra hospital tent pitched and es- fablished her little court. Several ex- perienced cavalry women speedily fol- lowed and were soon snugly and hap oily bestowed in camp, the tents of the married officers being set at the northwest end of the mesa, close under the bold pine bluffs, and in June, when it was fully determined that the sum- mer should be spent there by the field command, Melville took weeks leave, a run to Pawnee. and returned with Mrs. Melville, Miss Grahame and the children, proceeding that gave much joy to Messrs. Woodrow and Santley of the gunners and to Captain Chan ming and certain other cavalry bach elors, for Ethel Grahame had won the honest admiration of all the men she knew, Charming and Santley especially.
 Nathan's battery was with the con- mand, but Nathan was not. The doc tors had declared a summer at the sea- shore indispensable in the case of Mrs. Nathan, and the captain applied for three months leave. He and his guns bad not been exposed to any extent during the brief and bloody campaign that followed the outbreak of the Sioux, but Melville and "Cat' seem ed to think the battery could spare him. It left Torrance in command, a far better soldier, despite his snobbish qualities. And, though the department commander made wry face and the division general sniffed suggestively as he tossed the application to his chief Of stan, the leave was granted. The. summer opened gloriously.- Squadron and battery drills went on each morn ing in splendid shape on the broad, level flats adjacent to the stream. and Shooting, fishing and picnic parties were of frequent occurrence in the hills ~Cat" entertained prominent western statesmen and railway off, cials once or twice in June and was not always happy in so doing, for more than once or twice they touched on dangerous ground. and if there was a topic on which "Cat'' was touchy now it was that of Eric Langdon-Langdon, whom he had practically kicked out of Kansas City only to see him become hero in Nebraska.
 In one sense the year had done its best for Langdon. He had become the idol of a large class of the population, but that unless a man have political aspirations, is not of intrinsic or prac- tical value and, furthermore, is rarely of long duration. The populace needs new sensations. Shot through the leg in the dash to the rescue of the train, he had finally tainted from loss of blood while rescued and rescuers were embracing and shouting and was found unconscious and we'll nigh dead lying in a ravine full quarter of a mile up the track, beyond the train, to which point he seemed to have fol- lowed, fighting. as though to assure himself the Indians contemplated DO return attack. Frontier surgery is ex- pert in gunshot wounds, it having lit tie else to deal with, and rude appli- ances kept body and soul together un- Ill the coming of experts with the troop train from Omaha
 Later, while the soldiery went on to round up the renegade Indians. Lang don was taken back to Brentwood and nursed and coddled for long weeks. The regulars came in time for a stiff winter fight with the Sioux, but the ranch and railway people would hear VI 0-4Al OlG ncIOp 44duEQOu. 1ue new manager of the Big Horn called to see him and thank him in the name of the road. The road was full of a scheme to have him legislated back into the army. and bill to that effect was actually introduced. Langdon said it was time wasted, but Nebraska sen- ntors and representatives were conf dent. 1t was at least a good thing to push along, as it would keep him from turning up as possible congressional candidate himself. Sitting about the campfires on long winter evenings and | reading the local papers, there was no | end of chaff and fun among the regu- lars over that possibility. The train | and station hands all along the Big | Horn and Seattle, both, seemed to have | forgotten their grievance of the year | gone by and would shout for Lang | don at the faintest mention of his | name Two papers, 'disgruntled," to | use their own English, with their rep | resentative and to bother him proba- bly, as much as to boom Langdon openly | advocated placing Eric in nomination, whereat Rodney May and Woodrow | chuckled with joy as Charming drawl-