Forward, March | Page 7

way East to do so in the first
regiment uncontaminated by politics that I can find."
"Then, old man, you don't want to go East. You want to come West
with us. There is but one regiment such as you have named, and it is
mine; for, behold! I am now Rollo in the Army, Rollo the Rough Rider,
Rollo the Terror. Perhaps it would be more becoming, though, to say
'Ours,' for we are all in it."
"I should rather imagine that it would," growled he of the golf
stockings, now joining in the conversation. "And, 'Rollo in Disguise,'
suppose you present us to your friend; for, if I am not mistaken, he is a
gentleman of whom I have heard and would like much to meet."
"Of course you would," responded Rollo, "and I beg your pardon for
not having introduced you at once; but in times of war, you know, one
is apt to neglect the amenities of a more peaceful existence. Mr. Norris,
allow me to present my friend and pupil in the art of football-playing--"
"Oh, come off," laughed the big man.
"Pupil, as I was saying when rudely interrupted," continued Rollo, "Mr.
Mark Gridley."
"Not Gridley, the famous quarter-back!" exclaimed Ridge, holding out
his hand.
"That's him," replied Van Kyp.
"And aren't you Norris, the gentleman rider?" asked Gridley.

"I have ridden," acknowledged Ridge.
"So has this my other friend and fellow-soldier," cried Van Kyp.
"Norris, I want you to know Mr. Silas Pine, of Medora, North Dakota, a
bad man from the Bad Lands, a bronco-buster by profession, who has
also consented to become a terror to Spaniards in my company."
"Have you a company, then?" asked Ridge, after he had acknowledged
this introduction.
"I have--that is, I belong to one; but, in the sense you mean, you must
not use the word company. That is a term common to 'doughboys,' who,
as you doubtless know, are merely uniformed pedestrians; but we of the
cavalry always speak of our immediate fighting coterie as a 'troop.'
Likewise the 'battalion' of the inconsequent doughboy has for our
behoof been supplanted by the more formidable word 'squadron,' to
show that we are de jure as well as de facto men of war. Sabe?"
"Then you are really in the cavalry?" asked Ridge, while laughing at
this nonsense.
"Yes, I really am, or rather I really shall be when I get there; for though
enlisted and sworn in, we haven't yet joined or been sworn at."
"What is your regiment?"
"You mean our 'command.' Why, didn't I tell you? 'Teddy's Terrors,'
Roosevelt's Rough Riders. First Volunteer Cavalry, U.S.A., Colonel
Leonard Wood commanding."
"The very one!" cried Ridge. "Why didn't I think of it before? How I
wish I could join it."
"And why not?"
"I thought there were so many applications that the ranks were more
than full."
"So there may be, but, like lots of other full things, there's always room

for one more, if he's of the right sort."
"Do you imagine I would stand the slightest chance of getting in?"
"I should say you would. With me ready to use my influence in your
behalf, and me and Teddy the chums we are, besides you being the
rider you are. Why the first question Teddy asks of an applicant is 'Can
you ride a horse?' And when you answer, 'Sir, I am the man who
wrote--I mean who won the silver hurdles at the last Yokohama gym.',
he'll be so anxious to have you in the regiment that he'd resign in your
favor rather than lose you. Oh, if I only had your backing do you
suppose I'd be a mere private Terror? No, siree, I'd be corporal or
colonel or something of that kind, sure as you're born. But come on,
let's get aboard, for there's the tinkle-bell a-tinkling."
"I haven't bought my ticket yet," remonstrated Ridge.
"You won't need one, son. We're travelling in my private car
'Terror'--used to be named 'Buster,' you know--and the lay-out is free to
all my friends."
Thus it happened that kindly Fate had interposed to guide our hero's
footsteps, but it was not until he found himself seated in the luxurious
smoking-room of Rollo Van Kyp's private railway carriage that it
occurred to him to inquire whither they were bound.
"To the plains of Texas, my boy, and the city of San Antonio de Bexar,
where Teddy and his Terrors are impatiently awaiting our advent,"
replied Rollo. At the same time he touched an electric bell and ordered
a supper, which, when it appeared, proved to be one of the daintiest
meals that Ridge Norris had ever eaten.


CHAPTER IV
THE ROUGH RIDERS AT SAN ANTONIO

During the remainder of that night and all the following day