The Evening standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1910-1913, 1910-12-10


that crawed with little brown men, frayet
In the nerves that ducked every time
stinging fly buzzed through the molten sunlight
thinking It to be bullet
Now ask you was that time for soldiers to fee
that they were commanded by frvolIng nonentity.
Bombastes Furioso in gold braid and pomaded
taches?
or course the ieucnantS had known about it from
the start. and l. surgeon, had heard and seen
enough week after being assigned to the post But
the worst of 1t was that the had heard the whiS
pers. An officer may lack all confidence in his SUI
perior, believe him TO be as hollow drum and still
do his duty He has the training and the tradition of
the service TO back him. if nothing more. But men
to feel that they follow the orders of captain
who knows his business And when they can't they
go to battle with yellow lips and chill in the pits of
their stomachs
And, besides this wasn't battle. No heat of action
wretched barracks Corporal Dan crossing
the street with shouted jest To n comrade his
tongue when dum-dum whned In between the huts
and his phrase ended in gurgle The company beat
the woods about until sunset and shambing
back to stumble upon the bodies of two OF their
rades In thicket they had passed. stabbed and ripped
and killed with cry That takes the starch
out of the rank and file. that of thing. And 1t
calls for strong faith in Providence and the X. O..
which latter lacked.
Our X. O. was volunteer The department in It's
Infinite wisdom may know how he TO be in
.eharge on the borders OF the Camarnes, where LUX
don the widest and most dangerous of robber chief
tans barried the country. To who served under
him it of the freak casts of evil fortune past
explanation.
Captain B-'s military experience up to the time
be received his commission had been gained
Der of light artillery company In Florida Sounds
well, doesn't It? Speaking of light artillery, You get
mental picture of galopinG steeds. ngling harness,
pounding guns and carriages, all the dash and pan
opy Of the most picturesque of the service. But
the Captains light artillery had been very different
kind-sort of an exclusive little club, where popping
corks supplied the circumstance of and officers
promoted on the basis of the number of quarts
they could asSimate.
Far from regarding this schooling a matter too
trivial for mention In the midst of a deadly. grim
campaign. the Captain inordinately proud of 1t.
1t gave him material for endless anecdotes when
leftnant in the light Artillery suh" his
favorite clutch on the conversation 1t came to be
sickening To see the man stand there teetering on
his and throwing his little pigeon and
endlessly twisting at his perfumed mustache while
he told US tales of drinking bouts, and Lukdon's
picking us Oft like cattle the while, enough TO
mako one want to start nsurreotion of ones own
His Toast to the Foe.
Well, the long and short of it was The men believed
the Captain to be incompetent and cursed him sui
1eny, and the officers thought they knew the Cap
tain fool and prayed that he might
get IN the way of of those whining jungle mis-
sives Looking back on it 1 can see that the post
we'll ordered and maintained throughout, though
could have made me acknowledge 1t at the
time We had our opinion of Captain b, founded
observation of him. and nothing he did was
right His brisk insistence upon discipline we
garded as a sham and his high respect for himself
and his abilities offensive afectaton.
Tie first incident that might have served to en-
tighten happened breathess hot night when
four five Of had gathered at the Captains
quarters on the second floor of q decaying shack
above the messroom. We bad come through no
friendship for the Captain, but as a concession to
monotony and a case Of beer which he had managed
to get through somehow, The shades to all the win
dows were thrown wide and Sprawled in our
chairs coats oosened and collars off, gaspng the
breeze that never came The beer was warm and
dat, everything was sticky and humid and our tenn
peTs were raw edged. So slipped and gruntcd and
eyed each other susplcously suffered as we had
learned to suffer in the seaming Jungle
The Captain alone remained clipper and satisfied
He had the floor to himself and he went bnbblinr
alone in his usual way during moments of relaxo-
uon. we were not very attentive | am afraid we
yawned at him. When he rose by the table glass in
hand under the swinging lamp and proposed a toas;
We glowered unresponsiye
"Gentlemen, he began when I was icft'nant I'm
the light ahtIllery"-
Our groans, If not audible, were heartfelt
1T used TO be the custom TO drink TO tbc onenov In
those days the enemy was-uh-rather n ioke time
honahed Joke. But. subs. though he is suhtainlv M
joke at present.
Nng-g! Something hummed through the window
lhere was the sharp crack and of broken glass
and way OF on the hillside the sharp report of rifle
we heard the nervous challenging of the guards he
low Inc Captain was still standing there with his
nahd uprased Little rivuets of beer were trIclins
down his sleeve and dripping from his elbow The
ooet had sliced the top off his glass; leaving tbe boso
anu an ihch or two of rim in his grasp We stared at
hiih' lie was smiling little as he twisted his mus
tache daintlly with his left hand
and though he apparently has no mind 70 he so
faVored' must insist upon the ceremony. Subs tbe
lenen| brave and worthy one. must admit"
-, Lie nhiSned as evenly he had begun and whont
jsottnG irom his position he swallowed the few drops
tthe bullet had left him. -" oi0p'