Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1904-04-02

shelter here Of a kind boulders and
scrub brush piled together lndiscrim.
inately, and the young lieutenant made
the most of It. Occasionally the sound
Of a shot reached them from different
points below to let them know they
were surrounded, but except for that
they were unmolested till morning
From where they were trapped the
correspondent could see fairly well
the lay Of the land about Lndysmith
He could see the dust and the lyddite
fumes hanging over various points
of the Boer lines, and could head the
booming forty-pounders, the hurrying
threeinch creusots, and the "Piff-
Ipiff--piff" of the fussy pom.poms.
Presently there was a shipping and
popping of rifle closer at hand. A red.
haired Tommy turned grinning to his
officer The American noticed the
odd look of shame-faced embarrass-
ment that came over him, just as II
he had been caught in some boyish
prank by a teacher
They've 1t me, sir"
That's bad, Jones. Is it serious?"'.
asked Hastings quietly.
More than | can carry" answered
the man. Then he laid his rifle care.
fully on the ground, picked a soft
place among the sharp outcropping
rocks and presently died without any
fuss
The downy-lipped lieutenant kept
his men under cover all day, though
he exposed himself without hesita.
tion whenever he wanted to look
through his field glasses or to help
one of his wounded troopers. In this
the correspondent seconded him ably.
Yet the two seemed to bear charmed
lives, for though before sunset all of
the men had been hit these two were
still unwounded. Hastings was one
Of those officers who bear their men
on their conscience as a personal
charge. He felt much drawn toward
this correspondent. for during the
past two weeks of the inferno through
which they had ell been passing he
had come across him again and again
caring for the wounded under FIRE OF
nursing the sick I'm the hospitals, and
always with O certain gentle defer
ential humility that had seemed TO
him curious quality to go with such
a strikingly handsome presence. II
was as IL a man were apologizing
for his presence even when that pres,
ence was indispensable. He took the
greatest pains to obliterate himself,
and If you spoke to him was as shy
as a schoolgirl But the thing which
had struck Hastings more than any.
thing else was that Bremerton though
he seemed to seek the most dangerous
places by choice. was constitutlonally
as timid as rabbit Whenever he
put his life In peril he did II on sheer
nerve. Unless his face lied the man
was In torment. A ghastly fear stared
out of his livid face but he never
hesitated to expose himself when the
call came for volunteers to undertake
a forlorn hope. He would drive him.
self forward relentlessly as a slave is
driven by the lash, or as a high
spirited horse is sent quiyering past
some object In the roadway that II
fears. He would 90 headlong into the
teeth of danger with Q fluttering heart
and jangling nerves all in protest
SO IL had been all day Bremerton
was sweating blood In his agony, but
} II was a point OF honor between him
and his conscience that every man on
the little plateau should be in such
shelter as the place Afforded before he
would seek cover himself.
The Beers who had the surroun-
ded contented themselves with pick
ing them on as they warily exposed
themselves. The men were trapped
without hope OF rescue and the posi-
tion could not be rushed without loss
TO the attackers. At intervals during
the day, as they broiled on the sun
J heated grldiron OF their hilltop, the
handful OF doomed men could heai
the big guns at work on the neighbor
ing heights as they flung their shells
towards Ladysmith.
Wheugh-bang! Orrgh-crash! PIN
pin! went the long range guns and
occasionally the big naval guns hune
back their eighty-pound shells in de
fiant answer
After dark had fallen Lieutenant
) Hastings came acIoss to Where Brem
erton lay crouched behind two iuttine
boulders.
Il say. Bremerton. Old man, we're