The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1914-04-10
The White and
Black Pebbles
By SARAH BAXTER

Bob. my dear boy. ! congratulate
you heartily on your engagement t.
Clara Deane."
Thank you. Dave. appreciate
your congratulations more than those
Of any other Of my friends"
These two sentences were spoken By
two cadets Of the graduating class Of
1872 at the Military academy at West
Point. Robert Harker did not knew
what the congratulations cost his frieAA
David Warfeld. Both cadets had been
attentive to the same girl, but neither
knew that the other had proposed to
her. She did not tell the M she &C.
cepted that she had been obliged 70
decide between him and his friend.
And 90 1t was that the woman va
the only one who knew the fact.
Eighteen years passed, during which
time the two officers had not served ct
the same military station, though once
they met at Washington. Harker's
family was not with him. and War
Geld was still unmarried. Nineteen
years after they had graduated the
Mexican war broke out and both were
ordered south-Harker to the Rjs
Grande with General Taylor. Warfeld
to Vera Cruz with General Scott
During SCOTS advance to Mexico
City, involving a series of battles In
which the Americans were always VIC
t~orious, Warfeld was of great value to
the commanding general in all matters
pertaining to the science Of engineer
ing. When the army approached the
City Of Mexico. desiring to get a view
Of the enemy's defenses, he appropriate
ed the uniform of q Mexican officer
who had been made a prisoner and
worked his way to the ear of the
Mexican army. He took with him \
young soldier barely eighteen years Of
age with a view Of sending back any
information be might acquire, in case
he could not get back himself. The
youngster put on the uniform of. 4
dead Mexican corporal. 1t was ar
ranged between the two that they
should address each other as captain"
and corporal" only.
One day Captain Warneld was stand
ing on the edge Of a wood, behind q
tree against which he was resting =
spyglass which he had leveled at the
Notifications Of the City Of Mexico
The corporal stood behind, walking t.
and fro in the wood with q view -
warning the captain against surprise.
Suddenly q troop Of Mexican horsemeA
came galloping toward them. The ce5-
poral gave q warning signal, but to-
late. from a distance the Mexicaus
saw q man examining their forti6ca-
tons through q spyglass.
Riding up to the captain, the con-
mander Of the troop questioned hin.
Warfeld spoke but little Spanish and
could give no satisfactory account Of
himself. Both he and the corporal
were taken into the capital and
brought before the Mexican command
or. After an examination q drum
head court martial ri convened. and
they were tried ~ spies. They were
soon convicted and sentenced to be
garroted, but owing to the fact that
they were Americans, where CARROT
ing was not practiced, the sentence
was committed to shooting.
The two were confined in the same
prison. The night before their exc
cution the corporal called for writing
material that he might write q letter
Of farewell to his mother. BE had
finished and addressed it when Cap
tain VARIED saw It and read the ad-
dress.
.Grsat heavensw he exclaimed. pal
Ing.
what II it. captainr" asked the
other.
"You are q Bon Of Robert Harker Of
the til cavalryT'
II am"
"And your mother 40 a girl was
Clara Deane?'
"She was"
The dialogue was interrupted by the
entrance Of a Mexican officer. who said
to the two condemned men:
"Our commander has decided that
but one need suffer in order to carry
out the necessity of striking terror int
an enemy for such illegiumate war
fare. He has directed that you two
men draw lots to determine which
shall be shot. l have a white and =
black pebble here which l place in my
hat The one drawing the white. peb-
BILE will be exchanged AZ q prisoner Of
war: the other will be Immediately ex-
ecuted."
"Being q commissioned Officer" said
the captain. while my fellow prisoner
ID q private. demand the right to
draw the pebble to decide which of us
10 to suffer-"
The officer held out the hat to him;
he thrust in his hand and immediately
drew It out chnched. Going to q win
dow, with the other hand he drew
forth a pebble and held 1t up to the
light. 1t was black.
The Mexican officer In the excite
ment Of the moment Of life and death
forgot the other pebble and placed his
hat on his head without withdraw
ing It.
| A platoon Of soldiers was waiting
without for the loser. and Captain War