Wolcott LeCléar Beard

“ Now Miss Alice was married, and to Captain Lionel Crosslett. That was the thing so hard to bear—to Captain Lionel Crosslett.
Sergeant John wanted to be fair. Very hard indeed he tried to analyze, dispassionately and without prejudice, his reasons for so intensely disliking this man, and to give due weight to his merits.
Captain Crosslett, despite his service, his commission, and the uniform he wore, was and always must remain essentially a civilian. Never would he be able to fathom the hearts of his men. ”

“ The skirmish-line stopped, hesitated, and stood fast. Mexicans are vile shots as a class, yet three of the recruits dropped, one of them screaming horridly. Despite the efforts of the non-commissioned officers to stop them, their comrades began to fire wildly, though nothing of the enemy, save now and then the pointed crown of a sombrero, could be seen.
They were good boys, those recruits, thought Sergeant John, otherwise they would not stand as they were doing. He hated those men behind the sand-hill with a personal and deadly hatred. ”

“ Pouring from their car, excited and expectant, the recruits formed. Already the ordnance sergeant was busy—also without authority—in the car he had left, and in a moment two sweating corporals were serving out clips of cartridges and running back for fresh armfuls.
Toward the head of the train, where lay the "honeymoon special," as Sergeant John had mentally named the private car, men already were hurrying, all armed with the heavy army six-shooter—department men, like the old sergeant himself, and civilian clerks, for the most part, with a heavy sprinkling of train-hands. ”

“ It was not a new thought, but he had forgotten it—that in civil life this man still could find his place; that he would give happiness to the woman who loved him; that he might live respected, and at his death be mourned decently by others as well as she. And all of this was, after all, what a woman lived for.
So the muzzle dropped a little and the rifle spoke. The husband of Miss Alice went headlong with a bullet neatly placed through the exact centre of a knee-joint.
The man was senseless when Sergeant John reached him. ”

“ Sergeant John nodded, and without waiting for her consent lifted her in his arms. For the moment there was no safer spot than that upon which they were, but it would not be safe for long, he knew. Running to the car he had left, he placed her in it and vaulted after. Then he laid her in a little alleyway formed by boxes of tinned stuff.
"Will ye stay here, now?" he demanded.
"Send him to me!" she begged. "He's not fit to be out there. And anyway he's not in charge of those recruits—they're infantrymen." ”

“ The recruits yelled as they sprang forward. Turning very quickly, Sergeant John would have left the car, but his Miss Alice was quicker still. Flinging herself upward, she clasped one of his arms in both her hands. ”

“ He was no fool; his mind was even brilliant. The sergeant could not but own that in civil life, where he belonged, the man might have been tolerable enough—to civilians. As it was he generally managed to secure the liking of women. ”

“ That is what the old sergeant wanted to know. Then, as though in answer to his unspoken question, a man—one of the train-hands—came running up from the rear.
"All right?" called some one.
"They've lifted the rails behind us, too," the train-hand replied. "I can't see hide nor hair of the rails nor the men what took 'em—they ain't nowhere!"
The young sergeant's jaw dropped. Old Macnamara turned on him sharply.
"Get thim rookies out av thot cyar an' inta loine!" he rasped. "Quick, now! Hear?"
"There ain't a ca'tridge in th' bunch, an'—" Sergeant Martin began. ”