The New era-leader. (Wagner, Charles Mix County, S.D.) 1911-1912, 1911-07-21
.AfAlE OfTHEp PLAYS
ACKNOWLEDGMENT.

ing exposed settlements and OCcA-
sionaily ~yenturing to Try open battle
With the small squads of armed men
In this stress of sudden emergency
every available soldier on active duty
civilians had been pressed into sery-
ice. and hastily despatched TO warn
exposed settlers. guide wagon trains.
or carry dispatches between ourposts-
And thus our rider. Jack Keith, who
knew every foot of the plains lying
between the Republican and the Can
adam rivers. was N Of these thus
suddenly requisitioned, merely be-
cause he CHANGED to be discovered In
employed by the harassed commander
OF a cantonment Just without the en-
virons of Carson City. Twenty min
utes later he was riding swiftly into
he northwest. bearing important
news to General Sheridan. commander
Of the Department, who happened al
that moment to be at Fort Cairnes-
To Keith this had been merely anoth-
ar page in a career of adventure: for
|, him to take his life In his hands had
lOng ago become an old story He
lad quietly performed the special
duty allotted him. watched a squad
ron of troopers trot forth down the
Talley of the Republican. received the
hasty thanks of the peppery little gen.
eral. and then. having nothing better
&c do. traded his horse in at the gov
eminent corral for a fresh mount and
started back again for Carson City.
For the greater portion of two nights
and a day he had been in the saddle.
but he a accustomed to this. for he
Tad driven more than one bunch Of
lcnghorns up the Texas trail; and as
he had slept three hours al Cairnes.
and as his nerves were like steel. the
thought of danger gave him slight
concern. He was thoroughly tired.
and IT rested him to get out of the
saddle. while the freshness of the
morning air was a tonic. the very
breath OF which made him forgetful
of fatigue
After all. this was indeed the very
sort of experience which appealed to
him, and always had-this life OF
/ peril In the open. under the stars and
the sky. He had constantly expert
as TO make il seem merely natural
While he ploughed steadily forward
through the shifting sand of the eou-
lee. his thought drifred idly back oyer
those years. and sometimes he smiled
and occasionally frovned, as various
incidents returned to memory Ii had
been q rough life, Jet u not unusual
10 those Of his generation Born Of
excellent family in tidewarer Virginia.
his father a successful planter, his
mother had died while he was still in
early boyhooi. and he had grown up
cut of from all womanly influence He
| had barely attained his majority. q
senior az William and Mary's College.
when the Civil War came: and
month after Virginia cast in her lot
with the South. he became a sergeant
in Q cavalry regiment commanded by
his father He had enjoyed that life
and won his spurs, yet IT had cost
| There was much not oyer-pleasant to
remember. and those strenuous years
Of almost ceaseless fighting. Of long
night marches. Of swift. merciless
raiding. Of lonely scouting within the
enemys lines. OF severe wounds.
hardship and suffering. had left their
marks On both body and soul His
father had fallen on the field at Ante
tam and left him utterly alone in the
world. but he had fought on grizzly
10 the end. until the last flag of the
Confederacy had been furled. By that
time. upon the collar of his tattered
gray Jacket appeared the furnished in
sigma of a captain The quick tears
dimmed his eyes ven now as he re
called ane that final parting follow
ing Appomattox, the battle-woru faces
Of his men. and his own painful jour
ney homevard. defeated. wounded and
penniless- Ii was no home when he
got there. only q heap of ashes and e
few weed-grown acres. No familiar
face greeted him: not even a slave
was left
He had honestly endeavored to re
main there. 10 face the future and
work II out alone: he persuaded him
self to feel that this was his para
mount duty to the state. to the mem
orr OF the dead But those very q
Of army life made such q task i'm
possible: the dull. dead monotony OF
routine. the loneliness. the sloxness
of results. became i~ntolerable. As IL
came to thousands OF his comrades
the call of the West came to him. and
at asst he yielded. and drifted toward
the frontier. The life there fascinar-
ed him. drawing him deeper and deep
er into it's sxirling vortex He be-
came freighter. mail carrier. hunter.
government scout cowboy. foreman
Once he had drifted into the noun
tains. and took a chance in the mines.
but the wide plains called him back
once more to their desert loneliness
What an utter waste II all seemed.
now that he looked back upon II.
Eight years OF fighting, hardship and
rough living. and what had they
h~~rhs hsr The raruSaefnn - -