CHILDREN'S COLUMN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11587, 27 February 1901, Page 3

CHILDREN'S COLUMN.

SERGEANT McTIGUE'S TWINS.

[Concluded.] A tin cup of coffee all round —hot, though a trifle —bacon and hard bread in plenty, and the troop was again ready for ti'e march, and, if necessary, for a fight.

An hour later, as the column crossed a little valley," and began the ascent of the steep trail on the opposite side, the troopcommander glanced over his shoulder, and looked back. What was his amazement to see a. mounted horseman speeding at a gallop across the sandy expanse, a glittering trumpet shining in the moonlight as it swung from the cord about the rider's body.

The captain was perplexed. BsHy returning contrary to orders? No; she was too good a soldier to disobey; perhaps, indeed, she had met with some accident. Nevertheless, the troop did not stop, but, arrived at the top of the rugged slope, pushed on across the barren mesa. Ten, fifteen, twenty minutes passed, and then, galloping up past the troop to his place at the head, halting only alter saluting his captain, came the trumpeter. It was the same horse surely, but on him was none other than the long-looked-for Billy. The captain and he rode to the front; and the officer saw so much shame, contrition, and suffering on the boy's face that be had not the heart to reproach him. " I haven't a word to say, sir," began Billy, impulsively. " I deserve a courtmartial if anyone ever did ; but do, captain, give me one more chance. I was afraid to start — was just bora in me, I guess. And I did hide it from the men, like the coward that I was. And then, when I at lastdiscovered that Betty had taken my extra field-uniform, I began to suspect; and, afterward, when I found both horse and trumpet gone, it all dawned upon me, and made me almost too ashamed to live. So without letting a soul know I jumped on an extra horse- and followed the troop as hard as I could ride. • Over the butte there I met Betty riding back, and she gave me the horsq and trumpet." " Let this be a lesson, Billy," said Captain Cratty, solemnly ; for he felt that the boy needed no other punishment than the shame which his own weakness has caused.

" I really don't think, sir," Billy continued after a moment's pause, " that I am a coward at heart—only I couldn't help feeling the most awful dread when I heard of our order to cut off those Apaches." A smothered sob shook the boy's framehe was very young. " There, there, boy, cheer up ! The future is before you, and no oije shall ever know of your neglect of duty. Drop back to your place now; and if we do meet those Apaches, think of the brave sister who all but took your place." Billy fell back to his place among the men, who fully believed that he had been with the command throughout the night; and as the dawning light made objects more and more distinct, their thoughts were fixed on the probability of cutting off the renegades, or were busy with the question whether it would be necessary to pursue them into the fastnesses of the Sierra Madre.

And so they rode, a thin, black line on that landscape of red cliffs and brown plains ; riding where the dust would not rise to betray their approach—behind hills, through canons and ravines, and around precipitous bluffs, silently, and still more silently as the day began to dawn. And near the head rode a boy, -with a dancing trumpet slung from the shoulder, and at his hip an army revolver as iarge as his forearm. His drab campaign-hat was pulled well over his eyes,, for he was heart-heavy; but there was determination in the way he sat the saddle, and a world of resolution in his firm-pressed lips. The little army post was bathed in summer sunshine. The grasshoppers buzzed across the parade with a lazy uncertainty of purpose, characteristic of the day, the hot glare from the adobe buildings wearied the eye, and the post-flag hung limp as a rag from the tall staff in front of the guardhouse.

" Number One" felt sleepy, decidedly sleepy, as lie tramped back and forth on the guardhouse porch, and the carbine on his shoulder leaned in a comfortable way toward the horizontal. The old sergeant in charge of the guard, seated on the bench in the shade of the wall, was the first one to see a mounted courier as lie cautiously picked his way down the narrow trail leading from the San Michel; and as he afterwards sped across the plain toward the post like one possessed. The sergeant sprang to his feet, and at the sound " Number One" wakened to a perceptible interest in things around him. " Trumpeter Kerrigan," the veteran thundered to an individual within the building, " run across to headquarters, and report to the adjutant that a courier from Captain Oratty is coming down the San Michel trail. Off with ye now, as fast your legs can carry ye!" The trumpeter hurried away, and the gaurd poured forth from the guardroom to get a look at the distant horseman. Except when hidden now and then by the lay of the land, the horseman could be plainly seen galloping across the long stretch of level toward the south.

And on her fleet little pony Betty was at that very time racing toward the approaching courier. For had she not all day been watching that far-away niche in the hills where the trail led over the divide, with the pony saddled and waiting in the little shed behind the house? And was it not Betty herself who learned from Sergeant Jewett ail tie details of the fight, a good half-hour before even the colonel and his adjutant? " We struck the Apaches (so the despatch briefly ran) at Gallisteo Canon—a larger party than was reported from department headquarters. Three Indians are killed, and one mortally wounded. Three escaped, ahd are being pursued by Lieutenant Murlin with troop, toward the Nutria. Our casualties consist of Sergeant O'Sullivan, wounded in shoulder; and myself, bullet through thigh, received while imprudently reconoittring ahead of troop. Both of us doing well. Trumpeter McTigue behaved with great gallantry—without a doubt saving my life under fire. Bequest ambulance to be sent at once. —Chatty."

And Betty, too jubilant to remain long in one place, moved about hither and thither, with joy in her heart, and Bill's beloved name ever upon her lips.

It all came out later in the oral report of Captain Cratty, who, with Sergeant Sullivan, was carried into the post a day or two later, in the Bed Cross ambulance. The troop had cut the trail of the renegades at Pinal, and, turning abruptly to v the left had pushed hard after them into the hilly country, the trail becoming fresher and fresher with each succeeding mile that they urged their jaded horses. When the command reached Gallisteo Canon the pace was made slower on account of numerous obstacles, and Captain Cratty, telling his trumpeter to follow, had trotted ahead of the main party, hoping from the canon's mouth to secure, through his field-glasses, a view of the Indians on the plain beyond. Suddenly a volley of bullets from the rocks on each side had come rattling down upon them without warning. The captain and his horse, both pierced by the same bullet, had rolled over together, the animal in his agony plunging and kicking. Without an instant's hesitation, Billy had polled his commander away from the struggling horse, and, in the twinkling of an eye, had helped him on his own frightened but uninjured steed. The officer, too weak to do aught but grasp the pommel of the saddle, shouted to the boy to save himself. But Billy, seizing the reins, had led the horse up the canon at a run, the bullets flying about them like hail, until a projecting rock interposed. One bullet had clipped the edge of the saddle, and another had ruined forever Billy's handsome trumpet; but the captain was saved, even if he had received a flesh wound in the thigh. " The Indians did not wait to try conclusions with the rapidly approaching troops (they had hoped to throw the party into confusion by killing its commander), but jumped on their ponies and made off. The latter, however, ill-fed and worn out by the long flight from the agency, could not outstrip the troopers' comparatively fresh horses. So that on the rocky hilltops some of the Indians were overtaken—the troopers jumping from their horses, and, carbine in hand, continuing the chasa on foot. In this way, as has already been mentioned, four of the renegades had been killed or wounded, and three had escaped over the Mexican line into the Sierra Madre.

Six months later (for the mills of the Government grind slowly) a medal of honour reached the little Arizona army post from far-away Washington; and in front of the entire command, one evening at dress-pa-rade, it was pinned by the colonel on the breast of Trumpeter McTigue. And the

order announcing it stated that it was presented to

" Trumeter William McTigue, Troop M., 11th Cavalry, who at the risk of his life rescued his wounded captain from under fire of hostile Apaches, at Gallisteo Canon, Art zona. May 20, 18— And Captain Cratty, leaning on his cane by the gate at Quarters No. 10, knew what no one else knew, except Billy and Betty; for he knew that Billy might never have become thus distinguished had it not been for the brave little heroine who stood at his side witnessing the ceremony with a heart overflowing with joy and pride. But the old cavalryman wished with all his heart that Betty, too. might have shared in the honour she so well deserved. And he knew that if the matter had been placed in his hands, in short order there would have been twin medals of honour for the McTigue twins.