Under Fire | Page 8

enjoyment of "the boys" just
released from their four years of hard study and rigid discipline. Two of
the chairs were vacant almost until the close of the first act, then their
owners came in.
"You fellows have missed a heap of fun," whispered a classmate. Then
a burst of laughter and applause drowned his words. "All the same we
didn't miss the train," was the reply as soon as the new-comer could
make himself heard, after the lowering of the curtain. "Poor old Dad! It
wasn't easy to let him go."
"What took him off in such a devil of a hurry? We counted on his being
with us at the last supper."
"Oh, the Parson don't take much stock in last suppers--of this kind,"
answered the other in no irreverence of spirit, for the young fellow
spoke in genuine earnestness; "still, he couldn't have gone back on us if
it hadn't been for bad news from home."
"What, his mother?"
"No--o. It's a girl. He said he had to go."
"Ah, yes, we knew all along he was engaged, though he never said
anything about it. Parson never struck me as being one of the spoony
kind."
"No, he wasn't a bit. He wrote to her every week, but her letters kept
coming all the time--regular continued stories; but he wouldn't stand
chaffing about them and didn't fancy remarks, so I quit."
"Know anything about her? Ever see her picture?"
"Once, by accident,--a mighty pretty girl, too,--but he never talked

about her; it wasn't his way. We lived together the last two years, and I
reckon there isn't anything I didn't tell him. I remember how you all
laughed at the idea of my taking up with 'Parson' Davies, but he's pure
gold."
"There's no discount on that, Jimmy; but what a time it took to find it
out! If it weren't for the riding-hall we never would have known how
much there was to him. There may be some prettier riders than Parson,
but he's all round the best horseman in the class. What on earth did he
choose the infantry for?"
"Something about that girl, I reckon. Looks to me as though he were
going to get married before he joined the regiment."
"Sacrificing himself and his profession for the sake of a spoons, is it?
Well, thank God, I'm not in love, and I wish he weren't."
Meantime the subject of this cadet chat, a tall, slender, serious-faced
young fellow, was sitting in one of the crowded cars of the night
express whistling away up the shores of the Hudson, shadowy yet
familiar, fifty miles to the hour. His new civilian dress--donned that
morning for the first time--bore something of the cadet about it in its
trim adjustment to the lines of his erect, even gaunt figure. He sat very
straight, looking silently across the aisle out on the starlit river to his
left, and holding on his knees the new dark-blue cape and an old
travelling-bag. A lone woman in search of a seat had entered the car at
Harlem and passed by a dozen unsympathetic travellers, who made no
move to share the seat over which they sprawled aggressively. The first
to lift his satchel and make way for her was the tall, thin-faced young
man in the straw hat and pepper-and-salt suit. He rose and offered her
the inner half, which she accepted gratefully, then thanked him in
broken English for stowing her various bundles in the rack above.
The conductor looked oddly at him as he unrolled his ticket.
"Going through? Don't you want a sleeper?"
"How much is a single berth to Chicago?"

"Five dollars."
"No. I'll get along here."
Not until they reached Albany, after midnight, had he a seat to himself.
Meantime, finding his companion overcome by drowsiness and her
poor old head bobbing helplessly, he rolled his new cloak cape into a
sort of pillow, wedged it between her and the window seat, and bade
her use it. As they came in view of the brightly-lighted station she
awoke with a start and made a spring for her belongings. She had slept
soundly ever since they left Poughkeepsie, and was again profuse in
gratitude. "We stay here several minutes," said Mr. Davies. "Let me
help you with your bundles." And, unheeding her protest, he marched
off with a bird-cage and a big band-box. A burly German made a rush
for the car the moment she appeared upon the platform and lifted her
off with vehement osculatory welcome, Davies standing silently and
patiently by the while, then surrendering her traps to her legal protector.
"He is such a kind young man," said the smiling frau. "He gif me his
seat. We have a sohn, yust so old as you," she