Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1902-07-02

you"
"Please, sir,7 she continued,
impulsively, CT believe you are
doing right and that you viii be-
come 3 great general"
Thank you, Nina, he replied,
warmly, clasping her hand; ''you
are a brick, and I'll show 'em al
that you and I are better guessers
than they are"
And somehow the handclasp
fingered in his memory and the
recollection sent a thrill to his
heart in the days that followed.
There was a call for volunteers
to storm the fort on the hill and
Sergeant Thomas McGregOr was
first man to spring forward, al
though a hundred brave fellows
we're close behind him, and the en-
tire regiment was only so far be.
hind as could be accounted for by
the difference in the mental Oper
ations of the men. Tom had got
ten along famously from the start.
He never mentioned his West
Point experience nor presume up
on it, but the officers saw at once
that he was an expert at drill, and
he was made a corporal at the
start. His application, fidelity
and knowledge, together with his
GOODNESS under fire and his easy
mastery of men had won him the
third stripe.
Here, however, was his first
real opportunity. The MOrOs had
constructed a fort in a strong po-
sitiOn on the hill and had ceased
the policy OF deceit for a moment
to hurl defiance at the Americans.
1t was necessary to carry the fort
and teach them a lesson.
The boys in khaki started up
the hill with the confident tread
OF the Anglo. Saxon in war. There
was a fash and a bang up the hill
and down went some Of the brayest
and best. The MOros were using
captured American cannOn-and
we're using them effectively.
There was not a moments
pause. The brave voice OF the
in command rurg out reas-
suringly and the line Of brown
swept on. Toms forehead wrink.
led a bit in perplexity. The line
was moving up the steep hillside
without shelter and in the face of
the cannon. His quick eye had
caught the lay of the ground and
it seemed to him that by moving
to the right a few hundred yards
the column could advance behind
The shelter Of a great rock and a
grove Of trees and come at the
enemy from a point at which the
guns could not be pointed without
readiustment. But his not
to question why, and he moved on,
encouraging the men about him
by his perfect fe~arlessness and
OF courage. Again and
again the guns at the fort spoke
and the hillside was strewn with
heroes. The officers we're
nearly all down and the line all
but waVered, when there was
silence for a moment, then a terri
BILE crash and all the guns at the
Tort spoke at once. When the
smoke cleared the major was down
under his horse and not an officer
10 be seen, the line falling back
and q catastrophe in sight.
Then a clear commanding voice:
"Steady. File right, double
lime march,"
And the thinned rank involun-
moved to the right on a run.
In a moment it was behind the
boulder and the trees. Without
hesitating an instant Sergeant
assumed command as
though he had been named by the
commanding general, and led the
soldiers around the shelter, where
as he had suspected, there was a
clear way to the fort from the
There was a hurrah and a rush
The remnant of the battalion rushed
forward, led by a tall sergeant,
and In a moment all was over and
the Philippines were scurrying
helter-skelter down the opposite
side of the hill, seeking shelter in
the ravines and underbrnsh.
Sergeant McGregOr with his own
hands pulled down the PHILIPPINE
lag aid ran up the stars and
stripes.
Then he sank forward on his
ace, and those about him noticed
or the first time that his blouse
vas wet with blood.
MI ~ - "