The National tribune., 1902-12-04

to cost 10 cents and spool of thread =.
cents. AS | gave vent to my astonishmen'
at such exhorbitant prices the store keeper
observed, somewhat sarcastically,
thought: 1T isn't the value of the article
bat the cash money on the freight, you
know Freight on needles, indeed. How
ever. the thing worked both ways, as
found out later when | brought to this
same store our surplus rations and received
for them, per pound: For coffee, 10 cents
Git was sold at 81; brown sugar. 30 cents
salt pork. 80 cents, and bacon, &C
cents, from all of which our com
pany fund derived Il substantial bene-
fit. The utter absence of all vegetables
caused me, although not a Catholic, to pay
a visit to the priest of the place, very
sOciable Frenchman, to whom L could
speak in his language. l knew that these
missionary priests always brought with
them all kinds of useful seeds; and l was
not disappointed in my surmise that he
might have some. He received me very
kindly. treated me to fine glass of Bur
gundy wine, presented me with small col
lection of vegetable seeds and some fish
hooks and lines, all of which came in very
good stead later on. His home was q YER
liable oasis in the desert.
OUR GERMAN TAILOR BRINGS IMPORTANT
NEWS.
Before we leave Tucson, will relate an
incident although it reflects but badly upon
the writer, as n nOn-comnissiOned officer OF
the Regular Army, supposed to be Il rep
resentative of military discipline. l hope,
however, that at least those of my readers
who may have found themselves in similar
circumstances during their service, may
feel inclined to alternate and forgive my
breach of discipline committed under Il,
terrible temptation" ! was in measure
punished on the spot by falling into the
only water hole. existing i'll that dry region
within a radius of about 100 miles, except
ing. of course, lesSanta Cruz River, which
had few places where the water was,
perhaps, a little~o1er four feet deep.
AS previously mentioned, we arrived at
Tucson on April %, and the day following
the next would be muster day. l was as
sisting the First Sergeant in the prepare
ton of the muster rolls in rickety wall
tent illuminated by two candles, when all
at once, about $3.50 p. m, Private Lutte,
our company tailor, protruded his broad
German features through the tent flap, and
announced in great agitation: Sergeant,
there is beer in this town; there is a brew
cry here.' Let kind reader imagine the
effect Of this announcement upon couple
of Germans, whose national beverage is
brought suddenly within their reach after
protracted hardslips, during which they
had been entirely deprived of the precious
huid. Eutje went on to explain the exact
location Of the small brewery, only recently
established. and stated. that the price of
the beer was only 81 bottle! LipowiZ
turned his pockets inside out, but in vain.
''The needful" was not there. My last
quarter had been spent in the purchase of
the sewing material and Lutte had ex-
pended the remnant of his cash at the
beer shop when he came. He stated, how
ever, that in a little grocery opposite the
brewery. an Italian purchased cartridges at
81 per package. Now we had about 1900
rounds of these cartridges (the paper cart
ridges of the Springfield rifle, which we
were Juggling along, although we knew that
we were soon to be provided with needle
guns and the accompanying metallic cart
ridges. In view of this latter fact, Lipo-
witt thought we might spare about 100 or
so. wherewith to satisfy our desire for the
coveted beverage. --s--
COLD BATH.
In less than two minutes | was ell route
for town with 10 packages of the cart
ridges tightly strapped under my belt,
from which l had removed the sword. The
night was very dark and the path through
the surrounding bushes uncertain and I'M
even; but solitary light in the direction
of the town guided my steps. AS l was
nearing the first huts on the southern edge
of the towns, the ground suddenly gave
WY lTODl uuutT my lcet ana l. tODpleu
over, falling with a splash into n body of
water whose dimensions l could not dis
tinguish in the dark. The water was
quite cold and reached up to my neck
After the first shock l began feeling for
the shore, which | soon touched and found
to be a steep, or rather perpendicular,
bank. While | was setting forth every eff
fort toward reaching terra firma by climb
ing, tremendous splash in my rear sud
cd m la
splashing continued, intermingled with sun
dry profane EXPLANATIONS. / soon per-
ceived from the voice that my companion in
misfortune, j. O., in the water, was no
other than our commanding officer, Byt
Maj. w. Harvey Brown, who, coming from
town, had struck Decline for camp, tax
ing as his guiding star the light shining in
the tent of LipOwitZ, and tumbled into the
pond on the side opposite to mine. lOos-
ened my belt and les my purchasing power
the ammunition, now thoroughly soaked
and worthless, drop to the bottom and re-
sumed my climbing. The noise made at
tracted the attention of the Major, who
called out;
WHO is thereT
'.Serg't Spring" l answered.
'Please come and help me ont of this
Internal hole" said he; ''the bank is so
steep l can't get OUT
"All right, Majet,'' made answer: "just
wait one moment:,1 think I'm getting out"
In this latter undertaking | soon sue
ceeded by taking hold of an overhanging
willow branch. q Il then pulled out Maj.
Brown and ACCOMPANIED him back to camp
in order to put bn dry clothing and renew
the discarded ammunition. Then | start
ed anew, and taking great care TO circum-
vent the water Hole, arrived safely in town,
where | found the information of Tailor
Lutte confirmed. The cartridges We're dis
posed of; / purchased six bottles of beer
(the less said about its quality the better,
which | put into 4 barley sack for greater
convenience i'm carrying, and arrived with
out accident at Eipowitz's tent, to his great
relief, joy and DEDICATION. The muster
rolls now progressed finely and were ready
in good time Willie on this night expedi-
ton | noticed three dance-houses with the
customary game of chance in full swing in
town and saw that Tucson was about as
lively town as a man wished to see and
some men had perhaps better avoid.
FORT BOWIE
We soon learned that our company had
been assigned TO garrison Fort Bowie, sit
nate 100 miles to the east, situated AT the
Mountains. We resumed our march on
May 3, reaching the first day a swampy
bottom called Cienega, now Pantano: the
second days march took us to the San
Pedro crossing, mail station now called
Benson: on the third day we reached Sui
phur Springs, now Wilcox, and at sunset
Of the fourth day we arrived at Fort
of California Volunteer Cavalry and
a company of the LIST N Nj. Vol.
Inf. These latter could vie in complexion
with the Colombian soldiers encountered
while crossing the Isthmus. The Califor-
MIA Volunteers packed up at once and start