Arizona republican., 1911-10-18

hho He, ne demanQeQ, telln
 me to stop? l come here 10 fight, no
 to be bossed around by lot of whip
 persnapDers with tin swords. Wher
 l want to sing
 Burke's open palm landed with force
 upon the tall mans mouth, and his
 tirade ended in a roar.
 Here. here!" shouted the important
 officer from the darkness. Whats all
 this row?"
 Without answering. Burke dragged
 the tall man into the weeds. doubled
 him up. sat on his head and rubbed
 his ears. After a few seconds of this l torture he asked mildly:
 Are you going to be still?"
 The tall soldier nodded, and they stumbled eback into line. Half an | hours plugging over the thick roads 1 brought the two columns into the little | village-where they found the streets l cluttered with laggard regiments of
 a brigade supposed to be miles farther to the south. The congestion on the road was as nothing to the tangle in
 the village. Men ran hither and thith- CT, calling the names of their regi- ments and the letters of their compa- nies; hurrying aides pushed their fret ting horses in vain against the packed masses of jeering infantry; sweating, Mustered officers were openly laughed at by their own men. The moving columns came to halt, and Burke, a blade of grass thrust between his lips. wandered away in search of informa- tion, confident that no officer had time to prevent struggling. Half an hour later he strolled back to find his com panions of the night seated where he had left them.
 What did ye find out?" demanded the old man.
 Burke, dropping down on to grass. We've got 10 sit here till everybody gets out Oi everybody else's way,"
 In the increasing, sticky heat, the fanking column slowly untangled it. self and cleared its front One after another the green regiments were pushed out along the broad pike" The uniforms were new and clean. but they were hot, and the blanket-rolls- each making a thick, oblique stripe across the greenish brown of the khaki-wore painfully on uncalloused shoulders. Half a mile from the vil- l1ge the tall soldier loosed the buckle and tumbled his roll into the ditch.
 Whats that for?" demanded Burke
 The tall man did not answer, but glared fixedly at the offending burden.
 Now stay there, drat vel" he stormed.
 That's the last you'll see of it." warned Burke
 The tall soldier shook his shoulders gleefully. "Oh. I'll find it when we come back" he announced confidently.
 Maybe you'll be goin' too fast to see iti" chuckled Burke. digging his elbow into the boys ribs.
 The column reached a wood road two miles beyond the village and turned into il. After the cold. chilling rain of the night before. the day had turned uncannily warm. The ground steamed. the sun blaZed. and the unconditioned infantrymen sweltered and swore. The ditches which lined the road be- came Uttered with blankets, hayer- sacks, extra shoes-eyen cartridge belts. The men were not standing the gaff."
 "Golly," panted the tall nan. push ing back his hat and wiping his streaming face, there ain't goin' to be no fight left in mel
 Burke looked at the men about him; they looked wilted-dOne up.
 There's a lot of you," he comfort ed the tall man.
 Say" exploded the tall soldier, lis this a battle?"
 Burke, his keen eyes fixed on a glaring white road that trailed stead fly off into the distance beyond the | yellowing fields, looked around.
 Its goin' to be" he promised.
 Officers, whose nerves and manners | alike seemed worn to shreds, bullied | the column to its feet and pushed it | toward the gleaming road. The tall | soldier (who had thrown away his hat ] and only been made by force to keep | his bayoneD stopped suddenly and raised his gun.
 Hey" he shouted in a high-pitched | voice. Hook at that!" and without waiting he fired.
 The heat-hammered column acted ike a hysterical woman. Men shouted tuu lltu llitll l4AaCo sAAlAs NAAl-NiS beloved: the whole line billowed in confusion. There he goes!" yelled the tall nan.
 Burke had time to take a quick, snapshot at gray figure which showed an instant in the bushes, and hen the fringe of scrub on the slope ,cross the turnpike was dotted with ipurts of angry red flame, and the air vas full of humming noises. The ianking column had stumbled onto he first of the enemy's outpostsi Keep under covert" Burke shouted t the trembling boy. Its going to ,e hoti" The column acted like Q herd Of cat le assailed suddenly by an angry warm of bees, but gradually it com nenced to hit back. wildly, but with -olume. Burke grasped the tall mans Lrm as the latter was slamming the hird clip into the smoking receiver If his rife. What in thunder ye sEootin' at?" demanded Burke, but the tall man erked his arm loose and sent bullet liter bullet plunging into the ground scant twenty feet in front of him. The skirmishers in the immediate ront scampered back as the column .lumsily deployed. but there was
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