Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1901-05-16

In ~
| denoe.. If it were to catch fire,
premises would 80. I shall order
moved tomorrow.
| Sergeant Merriweather, stable
geant of the troop up to week be,
heard these words, and SO did Serg
Como, to whom he was pointing
certain defects in the mechanism
grain shoot from the loft above
heads. 1t was storming, and groom
was being conducted inside. Me
weather stopped short in his expla
tion, stared at the colonel as tho,
the words had dazed him in some w
and then had to be reminded of the
ject which he was discussing
The wind that had banked the sn
clouds in the southeast during Che
veered toward nightfall and blew stro
from the southwest. At tattoo it "
whisking the hay from the quarterm,
ter's corral and sending it streamil
across the line of stables and cut upt
the bleak prairie, while still farth
along, under the "bench, !" the big ha
stacks beyond the corral seemed stri.
ping in the gale and the biggest Of a
was that which projected half wa
across the open space in front Of th
| line of gable ends and just opposite tina
of Rays troop. AT tattoo the gale wa
almost blizzard, and Atherton, eve
on the defensive against fires, bade tht
troop officers look we'll to their com
pany kitchens and SEQ that all TIT
ranges and stoves were securely banked.
then went over to the guardhouse in
person and held brief consultation with.
! Blake, who was officer of the day, and
his officer of the guard who, as ill
luck would have it, was Lieutenant
Brady, at whom Atherton looked with
scant favor. He was young man
whom Blake described as Zone of the
detriments of the service" He had been
1 fairly we'll educated somewhere, had
enlisted when it was too evident he
was in no condition to make living
otherwise, but that was in the summer
of 1876, when 2, 500 men were sudden
ly raised by congress to fill the gaps in
the regiments engaged in the Sioux war
Ills VI lu6 AUldublC ClGl6S
was rushed to the frontier.
He won company clerkship in three
months, which was considered immense
| good luck, and lost it within the year,
| which was supposed to be luck as bad,
but turned out to be the stepping stone
to fortune in the soldiers eyes. He was
one of an escort attacked by road agents,
and, in fighting desperately for his own
life, had saved that of the pnymaster.
The sergeant and corporal with them
were killed Brady was danced" on
the spot and came home a hero, the
subject of a panegyric from the pen Of
the paymaster, whose uncle was. sem
ator of much wealth and much knowl-
edge of mining, but little Of men. He
was on the paymaster's bond for big
sum, and the next thing the ---th knew
stranger to their ranks appeared with
a commission as second lieutenant a
glib tongue and convivial turn. plenty
of money to start with and a letter Of
introduction to Anterior from famous
| war general, which letter was suscepti-
BILE Of two Interpretations and was writ
ten, there was little doubt, at the in
stance Of the senator in question, a
prominent member of the committee on
military affairs. "This will be handed
| you by Lieutenant Brady, said the LETT
ter 'who SO distinguished himself in
the affair on the Mimbres last year.
The department. thought best to assign
him to the -th, and have assured his
friends that in consigning him to you
have placed him in the best hands pos
sible." Senator Sivright was thorough
ly satisfied, his nephew, the paymaster,
bit perplexed, but too wise just then
to dissect any other mans motives or
letters. lest his own should become OBJ
jects Of scrutiny. Brady proved jolly
acquisition at first, could sing good
song, tell good story and was smart
in many ways and lavish in all. There
was story (put in circulation by sol.
der whose reward for that Mini res at.
fair had been discharge and not, a
oommission) to the effect that when
they were suddenly attacked by those
desperadoes the paymaster had crawled
under the wagon and cried, and Brady
"allowed" when in his cups that he
could tell things and would if not
properly persuaded. Certain it is
that for the first year of his service
Brady spent and drunk more than a
second lieutenant share. Then the SEN
ator failed Of reelection, owing possibly
to some shortcomings in his mines; his
n nephew, the paymaster, succeeded in
planning robbery that worked better,
and this opened the stagnant flow OF
promotion in the pay corps, and lef,
Brady without protector.
(To be Continued.)
Uncertainty.
she-Tell me, George, do you 10y,