Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-29
CHAPTER VI-Continued.


discontinued the practice of wearing theirs,
and merely looked embarrassed when their
captains asked them why. HaZlett and
Turner comparing notes as to that signlfi-
cant fact. grinned and allowed that while
existing orders permitted, they did not pre-
scribe the wearing of the medal at all func-
tons in full dress. The major was living In
solitary state by the time he had been a
month at the post. Wife and olive branches
he had in the distant east. There was no
officers mess, proper, at the tort. turner
with two of his subalterns, Fame and Bliss,
kept house" after a fashion. Gregg was
married and Mrs. Gregg was much in eVl-
dence. The infantry bachelors boarded at
the traders and lived better than did their
fellows. The major dwelt alone, looked
after by a China boy who was domestically
all things in one.
And since the sending of that second dis
patch and the fuller report that followed
the major found himself more than ever
without sympathetic fellow men. Turner
and his command got back about the 1Ith,
by which time DR., Evans had most OF his
wounded under canvas at the fort. others
more painfully wounded, were still a few
miles away, having come in by slow stages
Some were still delirious, some in danger
Gus condition One, Lieut.. Fame, though
suffering much and quite weak, was clear
headed and on the mend.
But his wound was one over which Evans
and his assistant pondered much and grave
ly. They were beginning to wonder II the
senior had been wise in trying to save what
was left of the arm. A decade earlier 1t
would have been sliced off summarily. The
humerus had been shattered and split by
Jagged spherical bullet that literally
Smashed things" for fragments of bone
had been driven through to the shirt sleeve,
and others were oozing out with every day.
Evans sWore he could patch the thing
up and had proceeded to do so, but time
and again the two would come and remove
! ~ ,,~1,- t,oJN ast
ing their elbows on their knees and their
chins in their hands they did so, and
then they would renew the bandages, and
the carbolated applications, and talk cheer
lily with their patient and then. grayely
and murmuringly. later. to each other. Tur-
ner and Hazlett saw how anxious they
We're. and it made the captains anxious.
And all this time for ten days after the
fight. neither Turner, Hazlett. nor any OIL
Ger at the post except PiggOtt and his I'M
happy young adjutant knew the tenor of
his reports and dispatches even though
among the enlisted men talk and comment.
not to say curses, were rife.
Then came a dispatch from department
headquarters. Major Piggott was ordered
to proceed thither for consultation" at
once, and the major started in the big
covered Concord forthwith. Then, when ne
was well away Sergeant Dolan begged the
captains pardon, but die the captain know
anything about what the major had re-
ported. and If not, in justice to his officers
and men, would the captain make inquiry?
And the captain did, at once, of Captain
Hazlett now become commander of the
post, and together these two overhauled
the retained files, and the scene that en-
sued and the language made use of
by one of the two officers the trooper, Of
course, might have cost that vigorous cam
paigner very much both in cash and COM
mission had existent regulations of the day
been rigidly enforced.
Then the doctors said that no word of
air IGt no do krlDy 70
Fame. 1t might throw him into fever that
would jeopardiZe his life.
AS bad luck would have 1t, too, it all hap
pened while the Gray Fox was away on an
Sierras far to the south-far down by the
Chihuahua line. He was looked for any
day. yet might be out for week more, and
Wickham, in his absence, could only for
ward the contents of reports and dispatches
to division headquarters at San Francisco
and hold the originals for the action of his
chief. But Wickham could not swallow the
contents of the second and third budget
from Puma Blanca. After quick confer
ence with Pelham, summoned up from
Camp Sandy, he decided to send for the
senior major and let him explain fully to
his colonel. Then, with Spigots away from
the command, there would be chance Of
hearing that other side of the story which
Wfckham's Judgment told him must exist
Three days after the major came gailop-
ing courier, via Sandy, with a vehement
warded with respectful but suggestive re-
marks by Hazlett. This letter Wickham
showed confidentially to Pelham, still
awaiting developments at headquarters
f ana Things were looking squally for Major
Piggott, when To- there came tidings of other
indian uprisings far to the north of a
massacre under the lure of the sacred flag
Of truce, of gallant officers and palm
bearing peace commissioners shot down In
cold blood by the savages who had sought
the council. Changes and promotion must
follow. The campaign would be vigorously
pushed The major general commanding
the division needed more officers at once.
Major Piggott, -th Cavalry, would become
lieutenant colonel of another, and though
1t might be months before he would get his
commission, 1t need not be many days be-
fore he took his command, Major Piggott,
said the next dispatch, will be relieved
from duty In the Department Of Arizona
and ordered to report without delay at
these headquarters which meant San
Francisco. And Piggott was already here
at Prescott. There was really nothing for
Wickham to do but bid him be gone When
at last poor Fame awakened to the full
realization of the wrong that had been
dealt him. the man mainly responsible was
many long mile beyond hearing the
chorus OF condemnation chanted in his
honor.
And the way in which the awakening
came was cruel in marked degree. Fame
had been sitting UP and toddling about in
the warm sunshine Of an Arizona winter
and the sun was still hot at noontide In
the valleys west of the Mesa. Something
in the packages of letters. received weekly
since his severe experience, had done much
to bring light. hope and gladness to his
eyes and a faint bloom back to his cheeks
Everything in the greeting OF his brother
officers and In the regard of the enlisted
men told him the story dear to every SOL
der HEARTBEAT he had won the solid re-
spect of both seniors and juniors and the
enthusiastic devotion and admiration of
the rank and file. The wounded, especially
Hayden, were doing well, and Hayden's ex-
pressions of love and gratitude were both
frequent and embarrassing. Still something
was amiss, as Fame could not but feel
something vague and intangible He had
noted that Turner was anxious he should
sit up and write his report of the expedi-
ton before the doctors wished him to. sit
up at all. He recalled that Turner finally
had him dictate to the company clerk a
slow and cumbr0us process. He remember
ed Turner's dissatisfaction with the report
You give all credit to Dolan, Scott, little
Sutton and other men," said he. You say
nothing about-well. your rescue of Hay
den. The men can hardly talk of anything
else, and-you don't go into details as to
the desperate nature of the situation there
at the tanks-something to make 1t thor
oughly clear that you had to turn loose
your prisoners" Fame said 1t wasn't his
province to tell of his own doings, and as