6
AN AIR-CASTLE.
1 built a house In my youthful dreams.
In a sunny and pleasant nook,
W here I might listen, the whole day long.
To the voice of the gurgling brook,
A cottage with wide and airy rooms.
And broad and shining floors—
A house with the hidden charms of home.
And the freedom of out-of-doors.
Fair morning-glories climb and bloom
At will by the eastern eaves,
And on the doorstep and window sill
The roses shake their leaves;
And fair, old-fashioned lilacs toss
Their purple plumage high,
While honeysuckles drop their sweets
On every passer-by.
Down at the end of a pleasant path
Is a group of evergreen trees—
Fine and hemlock, and spruce and fir,
With their spicy fragrances;
And, sweetest picture of calm content
That mortal ever saw,
Under a low-houghed apple tree
I* a bee-hive made of straw.
I have pictured it all a hundred times—
I shall do it a hundred more—
But I never shall own the pleasant home
With the rose 3 over the door.
Never a dream of mine came true;
(It is Fate's unbending law),
? never shall see the apple tree
jNor Ihe bee-hive made of straw.
But yet, in the airy realm of dreams—
Where all my riches be—
I enter into the heritage
Which is else denied to me;
I ha ve but to close my eyes to find
My Eden without a flaw—
The home, the garden, the apple tree.
And the bee-hive made of straw.
r-Elizabeth Akers Allen, in Elliott's Mag
azine.
IK stirring siorv of*
Lij-e in the {Whines.
[Copyright, 1899, by F. Tennyson Neely.]
CHAPTER VII.
Billy Gray was indeed in close ar
rest and the grim prophecy was ful
filled—Col. Canker was proving "any
thing but a guardian angel to him." The
whole regiment, officers and men, bar
ring only the commander, was practi
cally in mourning with sorrow for him
and chagrin oyer its own discomfiture.
INot only one important prisoner was
go i\v, but two; not only two, but four.
No man in authority was able to say
Just when or how it happened, for it
Canker's own order that the pris
oners should not be paraded when the
.guard fell in at night. They were here
at ta'rtoo and at taps all right. The of
ficer of the guard, said several soldiers,
had quite a long talk with one of the
prisoners—young Morton —just after
itattoo, at which time the entire guard
Jhad been inspected by the commanding
■ officer. But at reveille four most im
portant prisoners were gone, and such
-was Canker's wrath that not only was
Cray in arrest, but the sergeant of the
guard also, while the three luckless
men who were successively posted as
sentries during the night at the back of
ihe. wooden shell that served as a guard
house —were now in close confinement
in the place of the escaped quartette.
Yet those three were men who had
hitherto been above suspicion, and
there were few soldiers in the regiment
who would accept the theory that any
•one" of the three had connived at the es
<nape. As for the sergeant he had
•served four enlistments in the—teenth,
and without a flaw in his record beyond
an occasional aberration in the now
distant past, due to the potency of the
poteen distilled by certain Hibernian
experts not far from an old-time plains
fort, where the regiment had rested on
its march 'cross continent. As for the
officers—but who would suppose an
officer guilty of anything of the kind'—
a flagrant military crime? Ar.d yet—
men got to asking each other li it were
so that Bugler Curran had carried a
note from tlie prisoner, Morton, to Mr.
Gray about 2:30 that afternoon? And
what was this about Gray's having
urged Brooke to swap tours with him
an hour later, and what was that story
the headquarters clerks were telling
about Mr. Gray's coming to the adju
tant and begging to be allowed to
"march on" that evening instead of
Brooke? It wasn't long before these
rumors, somehow, got to Canker's ears,
and Canker seemed to grow as big
again; he fairly swelled with indigna
tion at thought of such turpitude on
part of an officer. Then he sent for Gray
—it was the afternoon following the
sailing of the ships with the big brigade
-—and with pain and bewilderment and
indignation in his brave blue eyes the
youngster came and stood before his
stem superior. Gordon, who sent tTie
message, and who had heard Canker's
denunciatory remarks, had found time
to scribble a word or two: "Admit
nothing; say nothing; do nothing but
hold your tongue and temper. If C.
insists on answers say you decline ex
cept in presence of your legal adviser."
So there was a scene in the command
er's tent that afternoon. The morning
had not been without its joys. Along
about ten o'clock as Gray sat writing
to his father in his little canvas home,
he heard a voice that sent the blood
leaping through his veins and tilled his
eyes with light. Springing from his
campstool and capsizing it as he did
60, he poked his curly head from
the entrance of the tent and
Jthere she was only a dozen feet
away Maj. Lane in courteous at
tendance, -Mr. Prime sadly following,
end Miss Prime quite content with the
devotions of Capt. Schuyler. Only a
dozen feet a w»y and coming straight to
liira, with frank smiles and sympathy
in her kind and winsome face—with
hand outstretched the moment she
caught sight of him. "We wanted to
come when we heard of it yesterday,
Wr. Gray," said Amy Lawrence, "but
it was dark w hen we got back fromsee
ins? the fleet off, and uncle was too tired
in the evening. Indeed, we are all very,
very sorry!" And poor Billy never
heard or eared what the others said, so
absorbed w as he in drinking in her sen
tie words and gazing into her soft, dark
eyes. No wonder he found it difficult
to release her hand. That brief visit,
filled with sweetness and sunshine,
ought to have been a blessing to him
all day long, but Canker caught sight
of the damsels as they walked away
on the arms of the attendant cavaliers-
Miss Lawrence more than once smiling
back at the incarcerated liilly—and
Canker demanded to be informed who
they w ere and where they had been, and
Gordon answered they were Miss Law
rence, of Santa Anita, and Miss J'rime,
of New York —and he "reckoned" they
must have been into condole with Mr.
Gray—whereat Canker snarled that
people ought to know better than to
visit officers in arrest —it was tanta
mount to disrespect to the commander.
It was marvelous how many things in
Canker's eyes were disrespectful.
So he heard these stories with eager
ears and sent for Gray, and thought to
bully him into an admission or confes
sion, but Gordon's words had "stif
fened" the little fellow to the extent
of braving Canker's anger and telling
him he had said all he proposed to say
when th'S colonel called him up the
previous day. The result of that was
his belli? placed in close arrest and in
formed that he should be tried by gen
eral court-martial at once. So lie had
taken counsel, as was his right, and
"counsel" forbade his committing him
self in any way.
"Then you refuse to divulge the con
tents of that note and to say why you
were so eager togo on guard out of
your turn?" said Canker, oracularly.
"That in itself is sufficient to convince
any fair-minded court of your guilt,
sir." Whereat Gordon winked at Billy
and put his tongue in his cheek—and
Billy stood mute until ordered, with
much asperity, togo back to his tent.
But there were other 1 liings that
might well go toward convincing a
court of the guilt of Lieut. Gray, and
poor Billy contemplated them with
sinking heart. Taking prompt ad
vantage of his position as officer of the
guard, he had caused the young pris
oner to be brought outside the guard
house, and as a heavy, dripping fog had
come on the wings of the night wind,
sailing in from the sea, he had led the
Way to the sheltered side, which hap
pened to be the darkest one, of the rude
little building, and had there bidden
him tell his story. But Morton glanced
uneasily at a sentry who followed close
and was hovering suspiciously about,
"i cannot talk about —the affair—with
that fellow spying," he said, with an
eager plea in his tone and a sign of the
hand that Gray well knew and quickly
recognized. "Keep around in front.
I'll be responsible for this prisoner,"
were his orders, and, almost reluctant
ly, the man left. He was a veteran sol
dier, and his manner impressed the
lieutenant with a vague sense of
trouble. Twice the sentry glanced
back and hesitated, as though some
thing were 011 his mind that lie must
tell, but finally he disappeared and kept
out of the way during the brief inter
view that immediately followed. The
I prisoner eagerly, excitedly began his
explanation—swiftly banishingany lin
gering doubts Gray might have enter
tained as to his innocence. But he had
come from.l stove-heated guard room
into the cold sea wind of the Pacific—
into the floating wisps of vapor that
sent chill to the marrow. He was far
too lightly clad for that climate, and
presently lie began to shiver.
"You are cold," said Gray, pityingly.
"Have you 110 overcoat?"
"it's at my tent—l never expected to
spend this night here. I've been be
fore the summary court, fined for ab
sence, and thought that would end it,
but instead of that I'm a prisoner and
the man who should be here is stalking
about camp, planning more robberies.
Yet I'd rather associate with the very
worst of deserters or dead beats in
side there," and the dark eyes glanced
almost in horror—the slender figure
shook with unmingled repulsion and
chill—"than with that smooth-tongued
sneak and liar. There's no crime too
mean for him to commit, Mr. Gray,
and the men are beginning to know it,
though the colonel won't. For God's
sake get me out of this before morn
ing—" And again the violent tremor
shok the lad from head to foot.
"Here—get. inside!" said Gray, im
pulsively. "I'd see the adjutant at once
and return to j'ou in a few minutes. If
3'ou have to remain until the matter can
be investigated by the general it might
be—"
"It would be—" vehemently inter
rupted Morton, then breaking off short
as though at loss for descriptiveness of
sufficient strength. He seemed to swell
with passion as he clinched liis fists and
fairly stood upon his toes an instant, his
strong white teeth grinding together.
"It would be —simply hell!" lie burst in
again, hoarse and quivering: "It would
ruin everything! Can't the gen
eral give the order to-night?" he
asked with intense eagerness, while
the young officer, taking him by the
arm, had led him again to the light of
the guardhouse lamps at the front. The
sergeant and a group of soldiers
straightened up and faced them, listen
ingl curiously.
"It may be even impossible to see the
general," answered Gray, doubtfully.
"Take Morton into the guardroom till
I get back, sergeant, and let him warm
himself thoroughly. Don't put him
with the prisoners till I return," and so
saying he hastened away. Gordon, his
friend and adviser, had left camp and
gone visiting over in the other divi
sion. The lights at general headquar
ters were turned low. Even now, after
having heard proofs of the innocence
of the accused soldier, Gray knew that
it was useless to appeal to the colonel.
He could not understand, however, the
feverish—almost insane impatience of
the lad for immediate release. Another
CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 1900.
day ought not to make so great a dif
ference. What could be the reason—
if it were not that, though innocent of
the robbery of the storehouse, or of
complicity in the sale of stolen goods,
some other crime lay at his door which
the morrow might disclose? All the
loyalty of a Delta Sig was stretched to
the snapping point as Gray paused ir
resolute iu front of the adjutant's tent,
his quest there unsuccessful. The
sergeant major and a sorely badgered
clerk were working late over some
regimental papers—things that Mor
ton wrote out easily and accurately.
"I suppose, sir, it's no use asking to
have the prisoner sent up here under
guard," said that jewel of a non-com
-1 missioned officer. "Yet the colonel will
be savage if these papers ain't ready.
It will take us all night as things are
going."
Gray shook his curly head. "Go ask,
if you like, but—Morton's in no shape
to help you—"
"Has he been drinking, sir?" said the
sergeant major, in surprise. "I never
knew him—"
"Oh, it isn't that," said Gray, hastily,
"only he's —he's got—other matters on
his mind! Bring me his overcoat. He
said it was in hi» tent," and the young
officer jerked his head at the patch of
little "A" tents lined up in the rear of
those of the officers'.
"Get Morton's overcoat and take it
to him at the guardhouse," snapped the
staff sergeant to the clerk. "Be spry
now, and 110 stopping on the way
back," lie added, well aware how much
in need his assistant stood of creature
comfort of some surreptitious ancl for
bidden kind. The man was back in
a moment, the coat rolled on his arm.
"I'll take it," said Gray, simply.
"You needn't come."
"Go 011 with it!" ordered the ser
geant as the soldier hesitated. "D'ye
the service has gone to the devil and
officers are runnin' errands for enlist
ed men? An' get back inside two min
utes, too," he added, with portent in
his tone. The subaltern of hardly two
months' service felt the implied rebuke
of the soldier of over 20 years' and
meekly accepted the amendment, but
—a tliought occurred to him: He had
promised Morton paper, envelopes and
stamps and the day's newspapers—the
lad seemed strangely eager to get all
the latter, and vaguely Billy remem
berd having heard that Canker consid
ered giving papers to prisoners as
equivalent to aid and comfort to the
enemy.
"Take it by way of my tent," said he
as they started, and, once there it took
"The morning will be too late."
time to find things. "Go back to the
sergeant major and tell him I sent
j'ou," said Gray, after another search.
"He needs you on those papers."
And when the officer of the guard
returned to the guardhouse and went
into the prisoner, the sergeant saw—
and others saw—that, rolled in the
soldier's overcoat he carried on his
arm, was a bundle done up in news
paper. Moreover, a scrap of conver
sation was overheard.
"There's no one at the general's,"
said the officer."l see no way of—fix
ing it before morning."
"My God, lieutenant! There—must
be some way out of it! The morning
will be too late."
"Then I'll do what I can for you to
night," said Mr. Gray, as he turned
and hurriedly left the guardroom—a
dozen men standing stiffly about the
walls and doorway and staring with
impassive faces straight to the front.
Again, tlie young officer had left the
post of the guard and gone up into
camp, while far and near through the
dim, fog-swept aisles of a score of
camps the bugles and trumpets were
wailing the signal for "lights out," and
shadowy forms, with coat collars
turned up about the ears or capes muf
fled around the neck, scurried about
the company streets ordering laughter
and talk to cease. A covered carriage
was standing at the curb outside the
officers' gate—and the sentry there
posted remembered that the officer of
the guard came hurrying out and
asked the driver if he was engaged.
"I'm waiting for the major," was the
answer.
"Well, where can one order a car
riage to-night without going clear to
town?" inquired Gray. "I want—one;
that is—l wish to order one at once."
And the driver, who knew very well
there were several places where car
riages could be had, preferred loyalty
to his own particular stable away in
town, and so declared there was none.
"Y'ou can telephone there, if you
wish, sir," he added.
"And wait till morning for it to get
here? No! I'll get it —somehow."
And that he did get it somehow was
current rumor on the following day,
for the sentries on the guardhouse side
of camp swore that u closed carriage
drove down from McAllister street for
all the world as though it had just
come out of the park and rolled on past
the back of the guardhouse, the driver
loudly whistling "Killarney," so that
it could be heard above the crunching
of the wheels through the rough, loose
rock that covered the road, and that
carriage drew up not a bundled yards
away, while the lieutenant was out vis
iting- sentries and. presently they saw
him coming back along 1 the waJk,
stopping to question each sentry a.s to
his orders. Then he returned and in
quired if all was quiet among the pris
oners, and then went and put out his
light in the tent reserved for the of
ficer of the guard, anil once more left
his post, briefly informing the sergeant
of the guard he was going to the officer
of the day. Then it was ascertained
that he had visited half a dozen places
in search of that veteran captain and
appeared much disturbed because he
could not find him. In half an hour he
was back, asking excitedly of the
sentry in rear of the guardhouse if a
carriage had come that way. It had,
said the sentry, and was waiting down
the street. Gray hurried in the direc
tion indicated, was gone perhaps three
minutes and returned, saying that the
sentry must be mistaken, that no car
riage was there. But the sentry reit
erated h>s statement that it had been
there and had been waiting for some
time, and must have disappeared while
he was temporarily around at the oppo
site side of the building. This was
about 11 p. in.
Then when Gray appeared at reveille
Morton had disappeared.
"It's not the sergeant let them fellers
out," said the regimental oracles.
"This is 110 ten-dollar subscription
business." And so until late in the
afternoon the question that agitated
the entire range of regimental camps
was: "How did those fellows break
away from the prison of the —teenth?"
Then came a clew, and then —discovery.
By order of Lieut. Col. Canker a
board of officers had been convened to
investigate the matter, and after ques
tioning everybody whom "Squeers" had
already badgered with his assertions,
threats and queries, they went to the
guardhouse and began a thorough in
spection of the premises. The wooden
building stood in the midst of a waste
of sand blown in from the shore line by
the strong sea wind. It.was perched
on something like a dozen stout posts
driven into the soft soil and then the
space between the floor level and the
sand was heavily and stou t!y boarded
in—thick planks being used. Between
the floor and the sand was a space of
about 18 inches vertical, and a dozen
men could have sprawled therein—ly
ing at full length—but to escape would
have required the connivance of one or
more of the sentries surrounding the
building and the ripping off of one or
more of the planks. In his keen anxiety
Canker accompanied the board on its
tour of investigation—a thing the
board did not at all like—and present
ly, as was his wont, began running
things his own way. It had been found
useless to question the soldiers of the
guard. Not a man could be found to
admit he knew the faintest thing about
the escape. As for the prisoners, most
o? them reckless, devil-may-care ras
cals, tliey grinned or leered suggestive
ly, but had nothing to tell.
"We'll have this boarding ripped off,"
said Canker, decisively, "and see what
they've got secreted under there. 1
shouldn't be surprised to find a whisky
still in full blast, or a complete gam
bling outfit—dash, dash 'em to dash
and dashnation! Send for a carpenter,
sergeant."
[To Be Continued.]
All Alien from Arknnsn.s,
"When I was on the bench," relates
Judge J. J. Dußose, "we were once
making up a special jury for a murder
trial. The lawyers were examining the
venire, and 1 wasn't paying much atten
tion to what was going on, till one of
lawyers attracted my attention by
saying:
" 'Your honor, this man is incom
petent for jury service. He's a for
eigner.'
"I looked at the man under examina
tion and didn't think he looked like a
foreigner, lie looked, anyway, like he
was acclimated. So 1 asked him:
" 'Have you ever been naturalized?'
" 'No, sir,' he answered.
" 'And you say you're a foreigner and
not naturalized. What country are 3'ou
a native of?'
" 'Arkansas.'
"Well, everybody in the courtroom
laughed. I told the man he could go.
He wasn't much of a foreigner, but too
much to sit on a. jury in my court."—
Memphis Scimitar.
Tliey Would Stay.
A new military prison chaplain was
recently appointed in a certain town in
Scotland, and, entering one of the cells
on his first round of inspection, he, with
much pomposity, thus addressed the
prisoner who occupied it: "Well, sir,
do you know who I am?" "No, nor I
dinna care," was the nonchalant reply.
'Well, I'm your new chaplain." "Oli,
ye are; well. 1 hae heard o'ye before."
"And what did 3 011 hear?" returned the
chaplain, his curiosity getting the bet
ter of his dignity. "Well, I heard that
the last twa kirks ye were in ye
preached them baith empty, but I'll be
hanged if ye find it such an easy matter
to do the same wi' tliisone."—San Fran
cisco Examiner.
Ilouiteliolil Frnttallty.
Mrs. Youngliusband—Do you notice
any difference in the milk, dear?
Mr. Youngliusband—l should say so;
this is a much better quality than we
have been getting lately.
Mrs. Youngliusband—lndeed it is. I
got it of a ntw man, who said he would
guarantee it to be perfectly pure, so 1
got enough to last for a couple of weeks.
—Chicago Dally News.
Not H Showman.
Bobby—Are you in the show busi
ness, Mr. Wedder?
Mr. Wedder (with eight children) —
Why, no, Bobby; what made you think
so?
Bobby—Oh, I heard papa tell Kate
that if she married you she'd have a
whole menagerie to look after. —Brook
lyn Life.
WfOman's
Refuge
when slok is Lydia Em
Pinkham's Vegetable
Compound.
Nn other medicine in the
world has done so much
good.
No oonfldenco has ever
been violated.
No woman's testimonial
was ever published by
Mrs. Pinkham without
special permission«
No woman ever wrote to
Mrs. Pinkham for advice
without getting help. No
man sees these letters.
Her advice is free, and
her address is Lynn,
Mass. She is a woman,
you can tell her the truth.
No living person is so
competent to advise
women. None has had
such experience.
She has restored a mil"
lion sufferers to hzznttia.
You can trust her. Others
have.
Lydia E. Pinkham Med. Co., Lynn, Mass.
Use Certain Corn Cure. Price,lsc.
HTIR..\ v»srn.\(} 10 AUVSKTISEKH
please slate that you saw the Ad vertine*
went In thin g»aiter.
WALTHAM WATCHES J
Sir Joshua Reynolds when asked
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Mechanical skill and knowledge
have made Waltham Watches the |
best in the world. I
Waltham Watches are for sale by all retail jewelers. •
A New Train West J
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Kansas £
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Ar. INDIANAPOLIS 3: 10 P. M. I
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PARLOR CARS.
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