Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1902-07-05

the men swung to the southwark, where
a group OF outbuildings stood. Fifteen
minutes later the horses had been teth'
cred and fed and the camp fires were go
ing. Harding, in his worn uniform. look
ed dusty but busineSs-like among the
dress-coated men. He did not think 10
apologize for his costume. He knew the
customs of Balconies rancho well, but
he was in the field. not in barracks. He
was shown to a room by Glynn himself,
who treated him with the respect and
cordially due a tried officer There he
dashed some water on his face and hands
ran clothes brush over and around his
portly body and announced himself fit and
hungry. They repaired to the drawing
room. Lois could not have explained the
thrill she felt when he was introduced
but 1t was due to the fact that after
weeks among men of another nation she
was now in the presence of one who wore
the uniform of her own. She was glad
TO see that in ease of manner and gen
tlenesS of bearing he was in no wise in
Terror TO those representatives of the best
blood of the mother country. Harding
was, indeed, much of man of the world.
While his fifteen years of service had
been passed in the main on the frontier,
he knew courts, and camps and cities,
was as familiar with London and the
Continent as the Englshmen themselves
and had. besides. wide knowledge OF
his own land. For five years he had been
in command of company of Seminole
scouts at Fort Clark, ard from FL Paso
TO Brownsville was known of all and
feared by the evil doer. He was still
under forty and unmarried, with gay,
soldierly temper. an apparent immunity
from fatigue and u courage that occasion
ally rose to a sublimity of recklessness
He took her in to dinner and, hungry
as he was, found little time to eat Sc
constant was their talk of places in theii
own loved land, so ardent their glorifica-
ton of it, so insistent their belief that
while England might be good America
was far better. Allyn caught an inkling
of their talk and announced with laugh
that it were we'll for all of them to keep
silence while the Yankees had their in
ninEs.
at won't last long, you know" he said.
but it'll be deadly while it does"
When the party had reasSembled in the
drawing room, Harding said to her:
Would you like to see the Seminoles,
Miss English? l think they are well
worth looking at"
She thanked him and the entire party
Stroled to the camp. Supper was over
and the soldiers We're stretched about in
unconsciously picturesque attitudes. They
rose to the salute as their officer appear
ed, then sank back as he said: Lie down,
boys, and take it easy. You may have
work to do some day"
Lois English found herself fascinated
by the dark, stern faces. Each of the
men was above the middle height and
there were one or two giants among
them. They had the looseness of limb
and suppleness of the trained cavalry
man, and Of them all, the sergeant, huge
and partly griZzled, was the only one
who approached middle age. Nearly all
of them were under thirty. Their faces
showed their mixture of negro and Semi
mole Indian blood, descendants OF large
framed Africans and Florida red men,
who had once fought to the death amid
the palmettos and palms under the lead
ership Of the famed Osceola. The cour-
ages of two strong races were in them,
and they looked what they Were; hard
riders. straight shots and desperate fight
ers. The fame of this troop was as broad
as the land itself. They were spoken of
by far camp fires close to the Canadian
line, in pushed and velvety parfors. and
among the timid, slothfal people who live
southwestward of the City of Mexico
From the Pacific to the Atlantic there
was no desperate, cattle rustler, Snug
gler. professional revOlutionist or petty
Apache chieftain who did not know and
fear them. More than half of their lives
was spent on horseback, but, though
wounds were common with them, and
death occasional, and fatigue their nor
nal condition. they never sickened of
service to which they had devoted them
selves with an enthusiasm that has had
few parallels.
(To be continued.)