To The Front

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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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+-----------------------------------------------------------+ | Transcriber's Note: | | | | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has | | been preserved. | | | | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected in this | | text. For a complete list, please see the end of this | | document. | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------+
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[Illustration: [See p. 252] THE OPENING OF THE BATTLE AT WOUNDED KNEE]
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TO THE FRONT
A SEQUEL TO CADET DAYS
BY GENERAL CHARLES KING
ILLUSTRATED

NEW YORK AND LONDON HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS MCMVIII

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

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

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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.
Twenty-five years had Bonner known that now gray-haired, gray-mustached veteran. Twenty-five years had he liked him, admired him, and much of late had he sought to know him, but Hazzard was a man he could not fathom.
"Fifteen years ago," said he to a fellow-magnate, "I told that man if he'd quit soldiering, and bring Carrie and the children to Chicago, I'd guarantee him an income ten times the regular pay he's getting;