Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1917-09-17
t h G u ailv
Short Story

/ formerly not what it is today 1t vas
largely made up of men who had fail
ed 10 make a, living and had enlisted
that they might be taken care 81. Aft,
I ervard, when the army was made
larger, educated young men enlisted.
Looping by dtLgeuL service TO win
I commission Since the breaking out
of the worlds war many men of re-
flnem6nt who feel il their duty to iebt
i Tor their country are TO be found ia
t the ranks.
Al q time the army WIS full az low
grade men ! was in what was then
/ the far west in command Of 2 two
+ company post. There was little to de-
and nay men were much given 10 drink
/ Where the liquor came from / did not
know Liquor was prohibited. and
( kept man I could trust at the only
entrance to the fort to inspect all sup
plies that were admitted, To make sure
+ that none was brought in.
+ Nevertheless the drunkenness con-
tinued, In those days when a man lu
{ the army was found drunk he was
takan to the pump and water was
/ pumped over his head. / remember
an amusing incident when enc 81 uy
men was being watted down Ba said
IA mis- uaudlin way, starting on his de
fenses
II tell you, major. there's lot Of
raseahtv iva this post
SO I see by your condition" & re-
piled. and we're trying to work il
cat of you"
I had no detective 10 put on the
track 40 find Out how The liquor was
smUgEIed fn So ] must remain in eae
dark. Undoubtedly some Of the meu
/ knew low the trick was done. but haW
many L could not find out Probably
the number was limited. fer if there
hai heeu many in the secret it would
have leaked out. lit Us the duty Of
n0ucommjssioned officer who knows Of
any ir~egularity going en- among the
men TO aport it, but I got no such re-
port They were all good men. and I
judged they we're not In the secret.
Farmers living about the fort
brought in provisions. consisting Of
vegetables, fruit, butter, eggs and such
like Is occurred to me that some one
of the farmers who were furnishing
these supplies must be bringing the
liquor. But my sentry at the gate de-
cIared that they exposed ali their
wares wheuthey entered and there was
nothing that could contain liauor. One
could not carry fluid Of any kind in an
onion or d crock OF butter-that is, IN
less the crock had "a false bottom.
Every receptacle like a crock. a basket
or d tin can had been repeatedly eE-
amjned and no spirits found.
Chickens and ducks were plentiful
about us. and it occurred TO me that
small glass or tin can might be hidden
in each fowl the birds being always
brought i'm dressed ready for use
had number OF them cut open, but
found nothing.
My wife had a. maid who was re-
celving attention from one or the men.
/ asked my wife it she could not use
her maid to find out through her sol
dier lover where the men were getting
their liquor My wife had q talk with
the woman. who declared that her sol ?
der never drank himself, consequent
IS he was not trusted with the secret
Since he was never caught in any OF
the DRINKS that occurred was forced
to believe the story.
Through a mistake Of Ehe maid the
secret was made plain to me one morn
ing without the assistance Of a degec
tive or any one else.
always ate an egg FOR breakfast
On the morning in question our cook
was On the sick list and the maid
cooked and served the breakfast She
brought me In my coffee my toast
ana my egg the latter i'm an egg cup
for I usually ate my eggs b0iied-aHa
sat them all down before me. Then
she retired. leaving me alone with mg
wife, who sat opposite me / broke
the small end Qf the egg which was
upperm05t, ana removed the broken
part with my knife.
Instead of the od0r of eggs sme]led
the 0dpV Of whisky Bending over Il