The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-06-10
The ARKANSAS cay BABY.

Cverlaw. He was in nv troop, and the
way the other fellows tantalized and de-
spised him certainly was a caution. Hank
was six feet in his stockings any old
time If he stand up straight he would
nave been at least two inches taller. E.y-
cry man IN the troop tried TO pick a h$ni
| with him. but poor Hank. instead of SET
| ting back al the kidders, would either
sunk away by himself or set up howl
just like a 7-year-old child
m afraid Finnegan who was top
sergeant. rubbed II in a little on the Ar
Kansas trooper. and I've seen Hank $
eyes fiji with tears and his lfpe pout in
to blubber when Finnegan roared a par
| tcularly strong oath at him. About half
the troop was made up OF old-timers,
fellows who had re-enlisted half dozen
| times. loved the army and would rather
| light than eat. But all the way over from
Frisco TO Manila they made game of
| Hank, the greenh0rn. When they ex-
/ hausted all their devices. worked every
kind OF practical joke on him without
/ getting fash of resentment out Of him,
| they began to despise him Huffman, a
| little rocky from Chicago. struck him in
the eye one day, but when Finnegan
heard about it he sent Hank 10 the guard
| house. There the poor fellow spent four
days alternating between weeping spells
and chills. / guess he'd have died of
Rome sickness if it hadn't been for the
| shakes. They stuck to him, though. like
the very atmosphere of his dear old Ar
kansas, and II was standing joke in
the troop that Hank would have deserted
If he hadn't had his daily CULVER
The men hated to set on the same de-
tail with him because he was the sloVest
lobster that ever handled a shovel. cur
RED horse OF loaded a wagon. His
bunkies had to kick him out of bed in the
morning, and the LATEST Cuban that ever
rolled a cigarette could have taught him
tactics and the manual. But Hank AK
celled in one particular. He could out
shoot any man in the Sixteenth. though
he never got quite familiar with what
he called TIL curleycues o. them orneTy
hrag-Jorge sens.
1T was during their first campaign, up
the Bagbag, that the fellows of c troop
came TO despise Hank with all the frank
contempt of your genuine lighting man
fer the weakling whose stomach ism
strong enough for real war. Finnegan al
ways said that Hank never fred his rifle
the first time they met the Tagals Ii
was admitted on all sides that when the
Arkansas cry-baby first saw the Filipinos
pumping their rifles wildly, and shoot
ing wide of anything on earth he yelled
out: 'Lookyon at them goldinged mon
keys a-pepperln UP in tn air" Then he
sat down on rice dyke and laughed till
the sergeant came along and helped him
into the firing line with ferocious kick.
But afterward, when our fellows routed
out the niggers and Hank saw the rows
Of dead monkeys, he sat down in the
mud and howled like spanked baby.
After that the fellows seldom spoke TO
.im. They agreed that he was a cow
ard, and he was denied even the try
ing excitement of being the butt and
scapegoat of his companions. They just
ignored him. and. left TO himself the
kome-sickIess and the chills preyed upon
him till he was fit for the hospital
sit was about this time that Colonel
Glendenin got orders TO take San Felipe,
about forty miles up the river. and Ser
geant Finnegan, with about a dozen men,
was sent out on scout duty in that di-
rection. The party was about eleven
miles out, scattered in the brush at both
sides of the road, when Hank. who. as
usual, was struggling, heard sudden
fusilade, the shout of his comrades and
the whizz of a few bullets singing over
his head. Nobody Will ever know
whether he meant TO retreat or advance.
but it's certain that he met some OF the
fellows running. Perhaps he thought
they were charging. but anyhow he ran
in the opposite direction. Pretty soon. he
found one of them, think 1t was
Hertherington, lying dead III the grass,
stripped and a bunch of grass thrust Into
its mouth--one of those playful little
tricks which has helped to endear the
Filipinos to our fellows. Hank beloved
like a bull calf at this. but ran ahead
till he emerged from the jungle and got
out on a submerged rice field He saw
Finnegan. face downward, in the mud,
before he heard the voiley from the op-
posite dyke and he had pulled the ser
against
abandoned OK plow before he began to
look about Then he saw a black face
rise above the rice dyke, saw fash and
heard the bullet sing. Finnegan, who /
" as hit in the neck, spat out some muddy |
blood and told him there were fifty mig
gers back of that dyke. The sergeant /
told me about II himself and said that /
Hank looked at him a minute before he /
asked: Shall 1 shoot EN-, sergeant
"Finnegan told him to hide behind the /
pIow and pick off the first Niger that 4
peeped. He explained that It was their /
only chance until help came To run for 1
cover meant sure death. lust then +
Filipino put up his head 200 yards away.
Hank slipped his Krag across the piow /
and fired. Two hands flew up in the air. /
and the dying scream reached the cry I
oaby's ears. He boo-hooed till his face /
was streaked with muddy tears. There /
Mas no sign of the enemy for five min I
ltes Then three jumped up simultane-
,usiy and disappeared in a second. Why /
iIdn't you shoot at emf whispered Fin
legan, trying 10 scare UP an oath. Ihey
lidn't have no gun. explained Hank.
s-iping his nose or his sleeve. At that
Instant three rife points stole over the
iyke, and Overlaws weapon spoke twice
before the first shot from the enemy cut
red streak across MS cheek Finnegan
iropped his pistol with hushed oath
md said: It's up TO you now. Hank
Z m hit in the trigger hand You got Two
II them. though. See their Mausers drop
IN this side! Hank saw for he began
% biubber again. But he vas getting
lis dander up now. The sergeant saw
lin poise for another shot, and glancing
across at the motIonlsss dyke. said:
What dye see. HANK Overiaw AIRED
md said: Got another then just saw
he tip OF his head. For nearly two
Yours they sat there. up TO their waists
n water FInnegan faintlng At intervals,
Hank between him and the enemy aoW.
With the sergeant leaning heavily against
lis back. the cry-bsbys rife cracking
iminoasly every time there was shot
rom the dyke. ard punctUating the IN
er1als Of silence without motion or a
Vord from the American.
.' What you shootla att asked Fin
,egan. noticing that the enemy was still
seen e feller's hand then. said Hank
They're skeered 20 aim They're JUST
,oldin' Up their guns on chausf- n
xettin' some trigger fingers myself.
Well sir" concluded Captain Mum
crd. 1t vas M luck 70 BE- sent u clean
ut that rice dyke. and We were half
yay across the swamp where Hank and
rs sergeant lay before TIE nisgeT> cst
I'd run There n1est have been asoat
wenty OF them moved down before they
~ into the timber. and when We lad
m. -. a-,-...s k.-k ~ In n-a-c ~ Z