Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1902-07-26
errrER THAN WE HAD EXPECTED.

E1EGS9 eheered by quite lo'
GW- of letters from home.
It appeared that the evacuation had
been ordered for an earlier date, so
mail matter for our regiment had not
been forwarded.
No sooner had opened one Of my
letters than | began to be mystifed,
for the writer. my mother. was prais.
ing me extravagantly for something
gallant which she assumed had done.
| read rapidly. but only to be further
mystifed. A letter from my father
was equally confusing. 1t Informed
me that the whole town was ringing
with praises of me and that our dis
trict's member of the state senate had
called to hear the story and declared
that all the district as we'll as Summer
ton was talking Of me and was proud
of me.
I called Brainard to my assistance
but he was reading a letter from my
cousin May and was utterly unrespon'
sive. so | opened other envelopes, only
to find congratulations from old school
mates and even from some Of the solid
men Of the village. What could II
mean? Evidently some other John
Frost In the cavalry service had done
something In particular, and my family
and fellow townsmen. like villagers IN
general. had not thought that there
might he two men Of the same name.
Little by little learned from the let
ters that the deed Of which | was
supposed to be the hero was midnight
ride alone into country swarmNg
with the enemy. had made no such
ride unless 1t was on the night was
scared back to camp by the rattling
trace chains Of the artillery horses that
Brainard afterward discovered. I had
not recovered from my modification at
my failure that night, so Of course It
could not be for that affair that all
Summerton and our senatorial district
were praislng me.
Slowly it occurred to me that some
one of our Summerton troopers had
heard of Rrainard's successful ride of
the same night and had known that l
started to make the trip. He had got
Brainard and me mixed in his mind,
and so ! was being glorified for work
Mt which had shamefully failed. and
the real hero Of the affair was being
defrauded Of his right.
Charley" groaned. He was look.
ing ldIotically happy when ! spoke. but
said afterward that my face alarmed
him. quickly told him Of the con-
tents Of MY letters and Of the only
possible explanation.
"Is that allY asked Brainard when
l had concluded. do feel easy about
it, for I'm not bit jealous" Then he
fell to rereading his letter from my
cousin May, but exclaimed:
stop being fool! Listen to me!
You know perfectly we'll that I'm not
going to sail under false colors. The
story will get pretty soon to the other
Summerton men Of our company, and
they'll chaff me most numerically.
must find the man who wrote the yarn
home. and you must help me, and we
must make him correct the blunder be-
fore the story gets back here"
For the first time in my acquaintance
with him Brainard looked irresolute.
Still worse. he looked sheepish. Then
he said:
'I'm afraid I'm the guilty man."
"You?'
Eyes. Don't be angry. Jack, when l
explain. OF course | didn't suppose
that your cousin May
: what has May to do with it?"
Nothing. That Is. she isn't In eny
way to blame. Say, old chap. suppose
you'll think ME fool. but-you can't
understand. I'm not so modest that
couldn't see that my ride with dis
patches that night was quite creditable
to me. and did wish your cousin May
could know Of it and that might know
how she regarded 1t. l began to write
her about it. but my pen simply
wouldn't work. Somehow can't blow
my own trumpet. Suddenly it occurred
to me that you'd gone through all that
had-the sense Of danger. the loneli
ness. the expectation Of running into
Il camp Of Johnnes or at least Of being
fired upon ut short range. So l wrote
up your ride just as l knew you felt
while making it, and didn't leave Out
a single heart quake"
You Internal. blessed hypocrite! Die
you make me deliver the dispatch?
never imagined you could lie. even fol
the sake Of telling good story. p
II didn't lie. said that despite the
scares the dispatches finally reached
their destination. And. oh, Jack, the
letter she's written in reply! I'm tax
ing all the praise to myself, every bi
of it. but you may read it."
Read it! I'll send back a denial BY
the first mail. and If ever again yol
trust big hearted. excitable girl will
any story that you don't want known
by the whole world I'll dump you into
lunatc asylum for your own protec
ton and for mine. Can't you see wha
an awful position you've put Inc in?
shall never dare face the boys AGAR
unless you explain to all Of them. and
Of course. you can't do that. almos
wish could be shot or made prison
er. Besides