To The Front

To The Front, by Charles King

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Title: To The Front A Sequel to Cadet Days
Author: Charles King
Release Date: November 28, 2006 [EBook #19952]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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FRONT ***

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[Illustration: [See p. 252] THE OPENING OF THE BATTLE AT
WOUNDED KNEE]
* * * * *

TO THE FRONT
A SEQUEL TO CADET DAYS
BY GENERAL CHARLES KING
ILLUSTRATED

NEW YORK AND LONDON HARPER & BROTHERS
PUBLISHERS MCMVIII

* * * * *

Copyright, 1908, by HARPER & BROTHERS.
All rights reserved.
Published March, 1908.

* * * * *

TO THREE BOYS, CADETS YET TO BE TO "COPE" AND THE
MAJOR

* * * * *

CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
PRELUDE 1
I. FROM THE GRAY TO THE BLUE 11
II. THE FIRST CALL 30
III. AWAY TO THE WEST 39
IV. "I'M READY NOW" 49
V. FIRST NIGHT ON THE RANGE 61
VI. FIRST AID TO THE WOUNDED 76
VII. A BALKED ARREST 89
VIII. A RACE TO THE FORT 102
IX. BAD NEWS FROM THE MINES 114
X. FIRST SHOTS OF THE SUMMER 128
XI. A NIGHT ON GUARD 142
XII. THE MAN OF THE SIEGE 156

XIII. AWAY ON THE WARPATH 168
XIV. A SCOUT FOR THE SIOUX 180
XV. FIRST SIGHT OF THE FOE 198
XVI. PROOF POSITIVE OF GUILT 213
XVII. THE WAR-DANCE AND THE CHARGE 224
XVIII. BATTLE AND VICTORY 239

ILLUSTRATIONS
THE OPENING OF THE BATTLE AT WOUNDED KNEE
Frontispiece
CADETS AT DRILL, WEST POINT Facing p. 14
"BIG BEN WAS BUSY WITH HIS OIL-CAN" " 84
"NOT A WHIFF OF THE DRAUGHT COULD BE WASTED" " 102
SILVER SHIELD " 128
"'STRAIGHT THROUGH THE HERD, MEN. CH-A-A-A-RGE!'" "
236
UNITED STATES CAVALRY IN WINTER RIG " 242
"UP WENT TWO LITTLE PUFFS OF EARTH" " 248

TO THE FRONT

TO THE FRONT

PRELUDE
It was graduation day at West Point, and there had been a remarkable
scene at the morning ceremonies. In the presence of the Board of
Visitors, the full-uniformed officers of the academic and military staff,
the august professors and their many assistants, scores of daintily
dressed women and dozens of sober-garbed civilians, the assembled
Corps of Cadets, in their gray and white, had risen as one man and
cheered to the echo a soldierly young fellow, their "first captain," as he
received his diploma and then turned to rejoin them. It was an unusual
incident. Every man preceding had been applauded, some of them
vehemently. Every man after him, and they were many, received his
meed of greeting and congratulation, but the portion accorded Cadet
Captain "Geordie" Graham, like that of Little Benjamin, exceeded all
others, and a prominent banker and business man, visiting the Point for
the first time, was moved to inquire why.
"I think," said the officer addressed, a man of his own age, though his
spare form and smooth-shaven cheek and chin made him look ten years
younger--"I think it is that Graham has been tried in all manner of ways
and has proved equal to every occasion. They say he's sheer grit."
A keen and close observer was the banker--"a student of men," he
called himself. He had been tried in many a way and proved equal to
every occasion. He had risen from the ranks to the summit. He, too,
they said in Chicago, was "sheer grit." Moreover, they did not say he
had "made his pile out of others' losings"; but, like most men who have
had to work hard to win it, until it began to come so fast that it made
itself, John Bonner judged men very much by their power to earn
money. Money was his standard, his measure of success.
And this, perhaps, was why John Bonner could never understand his
brother-in-law, the colonel, a most distinguished soldier, a modest and
most enviable man.