THE MAJOR AND THE ANGEL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9222, 29 April 1908, Page 4

THE MAJOR AND THE ANGEL.

(By H. C. CARR.) For a solid hour the adjutant had ' been singing " Children of the Heavenly King" ; but the baby declined to be J comforted. It was one o'clock in the ! morning, in the middle of a Montana < winter. - . A The baby's mamma wa6 officially understood to be enjoying social relaxa- _ tion. She was the wife of little Dicky i Jarboe, a second lieutenant of cavalry. \ All the other ladies of the garrison , were comfortably housed in the East ; j but M-,-s Jarboe was a bride, and had romantic notions about being at her i husband's side. The Major was managing her affairs, j Everybody managed her affairs. She . was that kind of woman. The Major ] had been thinking it over, and had de- J cided that she was not living a gay 1 enough life for a girl. There came this dance over at the infantry post. The 1 Major 6ent her with Dicky and an escort of eighteen troopers. She cried four times on the way. Once, during the ride, she sent the 1 whole escort back two miles to caution * the Adjutant about warming the milk, i At the ball, between dances, she slipped c out to the dre6sing-room and stared i out of the window through her tears. j At last the baby closed its eyes. The Adjutant thought it was going to sleep. 1 H. 6 trooper boots were off, so he softly < tip-toed in his stockings across the room i to the cradle and lowered the little < muffled figure gently into the basket. ] But just as he was straightening up, - the baby let out a plaintive wail. The Adjutant could hear the Major t swear in the next room, where a knot { of officers were waiting with bated breath. He dared not stop singing again and to tbe tune of " Children of . the Heavenly King" called for the or- ' derly. " Or-der-lee-lee give give to me that < hot-wat-er baggy bag," he sang. Nobody smiled ; it was too tragic- 1 The big trooper saluted, and handed 1 over the hot-water bag. which the Ad- < jutant carefully applied to the young 1 man's stomach. Only a y more doleful screech resulted._ | t In utter despair, the Adjutant plant- -_ ed the baby in the cradle, and walked i into the next room, where the Major x was fuming up and down. . " It's no use, sir," said the Adjutant i hopelessly. " I quit." "Huh!" snorted the Major. "It's a pity, with all the time you've wasted '■ gadding around with girls, that you * never learned anything about babies!" * The nearest girl was a, rancher's wife, € aged fifty, and twenty-eight miles * away, but the Adjutant, being a wise * young man. did not reply. Meanwhile 1 the baby drew a long breath, shut his i eyes, puckered up his face, and howled. I "Where's the nursing-bottle?" the £ Major demanded. _ _ f "If he gets any more milk, it will beecin squirting out of his pores," the c Adjutant said quietly. "The milk was too hot!" snapped the Major. T "When I last gave it to him, you