CHAPTER II.
THE OATH OF ENLISTMENT.
It was while stationed at old Fort Sanders that Waller's enthusiasticdevotion to his new captain and his captain's family began. The formertroop commander was ordered to the retired list, broken down by wounds,and the senior lieutenant stepped into his place. Waller bade farewellto his old captain with tear-dimmed eyes--they had served together forover fifteen years--and with much inward misgiving, but not thefaintest outward show thereof, saluted the new arrival, a young officerbut a soldier through and through; it was not a week before the sergeanthad fully satisfied himself as to that. Presently the new captain'sfamily reached the fort and took up their abode; a fair-haired,blue-eyed young mother with two children, a boy and a girl, the eldestbeing three years younger than Fred; and then began another and stronginterest.
That very winter scarlet fever devastated the fort. Few children escapedthe scourge. There were a dozen little graves in the cemetery out on theprairie when the long winter came to an end. There were two or threelarger graves, and one of these held all that was mortal of Fred'sloving mother; he and his stern, sad-faced father were now alone in theworld.
And Captain Charlton's little household had not been spared. It wasamong the officers' quarters that the pestilence had first appeared.Frank and Florence Charlton were among the children earliest stricken.The servants fled the house, as frontier servants will, and their placewas promptly supplied by Mrs. Waller. She and her husband would listento no remonstrance, and Mrs. Charlton, overwhelmed with care and dread,was only too glad to have the strong, cheery army woman's help. Over thelittle brown cottage the shadow of death hovered for days before it waslifted and borne away, and when at last all danger was over and all wasagain all hope and peace the sergeant's wife went back to her own humbleroof across the parade, and there suddenly sickened and died. When thescourge was finally swept from the garrison and the soft winds began toblow from the South, the stricken old soldier was glad of the chance togo with his troop into the field-service, and was almost happy in onething. Mrs. Charlton had taken his boy as one of her own, and each dayshe was teaching him faithfully and well. When the troop rode away fromSanders Fred was left behind to occupy a little room under thecaptain's roof. "Remember, sir, you are sergeant of the guard, and thathouse and that household are your special charge for all summer long,"were Waller's parting words to his boy.
Regularly as the mail reached the troop during its summer scoutingCaptain Charlton's home missives had their messages for Sergeant Waller;and soon, to his unspeakable joy, letters all his own, addressed in around boyish hand that grew firmer every week, began to come as hisshare of the welcome package. Never would he presume to ask for news,yet the captain was not slow to notice how old Waller was sure to bebusy close at hand when the home letters came, and prompt to answer,and with soldierly salute to stand erect before his young commander andstrive not to show the pride and delight that tingled in every vein atthe glowing words in which Mrs. Charlton told of his boy's rapidprogress and his devotion to her and the children. His lip would quiveruncontrollably and his eyes fill; his hand might tremble as it touchedthe brim of his scouting hat, but the salute was precise as ever.
ADDRESSED IN A ROUND BOYISH HAND.]
"I thank the captain, and beg to thank the captain's kind lady," was hisinvariable formula on such occasions. "I hope the boy will always do hisduty."
And then he would face about and stride away with his head very high inthe air and his eyes blinking hard, and almost immediately his voicewould be heard sternly berating some trooper whose horse had tangledhimself in his lariat, or whose "kit" was not stowed in proper shapeabout the saddle. It was his way of striving to hide the joy thosemessages brought him, and the men were quick to see through it all, andlittle "Reddy" Mulligan, reprimanded for the third time within afort-night, started a laugh all through the bivouac by his whimsicalprotest:
"It's more good news you've been getting from Fred, sergeant, dear;isn't it now? Faith, I wish he'd play ye a thrick wanst in a while, likeother byes. Maybe thin I'd be mintioned to the captain for acorporalship." And for once the veteran turned his back on the laughingtroop conscious of defeat.
In '74 old Waller changed the yellow stripes and diamond of the firstsergeantcy for the crimson and the star of the ordnance, and thetroopers, one and all, said good-by to him with infinite regret. PerhapsDawson, who was next in rank, may be excepted. He confidently expectedto be promoted in Waller's place. But though a dashing soldier and asmart non-commissioned officer, he was not the stanch, reliable man thecaptain needed, and proved it by celebrating Waller's promotion in avery boisterous and unseemly manner. It was plain that he had beendrinking heavily, and though Captain Charlton saved him from arrest andcourt-martial he would not promote him, and plainly, though privately,told him why. The troop knew it was for this reason, but Dawson swore itwas all on account of Waller's influence against him when SergeantGraham was named in regimental orders as the old veteran's successor.
That same summer, with firm hand and glistening eyes, Waller signed hisconsent to the enlistment of his son as trumpeter in the old troop. Howhe watched the boy's glowing face as the oath of enlistment, so oftenlightly spoken, was solemnly repeated, and Fred was bound to theservice of his country. How he trembled from head to foot when, but afew weeks afterward and in the dead of night, Charlton and his menhurried forth to intercept a band of Indians who had swooped down uponthe herders south of Laramie Peak. Waller could hardly buckle thecantle-straps of Fred's saddle as the little fellow, all eagerness, wasbustling about his horse in the dim light of the stable lanterns. Yetwhen the captain and Lieutenant Rayburn came trotting briskly down theroadway and the men were silently "leading into line," it was the oldsergeant's hand that grasped the boy's left foot and swung him lightlyinto his seat.
"Whatever happens, sir, mind you keep close to the captain," was hisparting injunction to his boy. Then his heels came together with the oldcavalry "click" and his twitching fingers were stiffened as they wentsuddenly up in salute to Mr. Rayburn, who bent down from his saddle tosay that they would try and take good care of Fred. But Waller answered:
"I thank the lieutenant. The boy is a soldier now, sir. He must take hischances with the rest." Then with one lingering clasp of the trumpeter'shand, "Join your captain," he ordered, and turned away into thedarkness.
But the sentry on No. 6 bore witness to the fact that the ordnancesergeant never went to bed again all that night, and the men sent tounload and store the ammunition that came next day from Rock IslandArsenal declared that old Waller was gruffer than ever. All the nextnight too, he was awake, waiting, watching for tidings from the North.Nothing came until sunset of the second day, just as the whole commandwas turning out for retreat parade, and then Corporal Rock rode in withdispatches and trotted straight to where the commanding officer wasstanding in front of the adjutant's office. All eyes were upon him as hethrew himself from the saddle and handed the packet to the colonel. Halfa dozen officers hastened to join their commander as he tore it open.The piazzas of the officers' quarters were quickly alive with ladies andchildren, breathlessly eager to hear the news. The colonel's orderly wasseen hastening to the surgeon's house--that looked ominous--then Rockremounted; trotted to Captain Charlton's gate, where Mrs. Charlton wastremblingly awaiting him. "It's all right, ma'am," he hastened to say."Leastwise the captain's safe, but Mulligan is shot--and Ryan andSergeant Frazer." She hurried in the house with the precious letter heplaced in her hands, and while several ladies hastened to join her, themessenger returned to the office.
All this while Sergeant Waller had stood like a statue under the tallwhite flag-staff where the non-commissioned staff assembled at retreat,watching every move with dry, aching eyes, and a face gray as hismustache.