The Victim - Jr. Thomas Dixon

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of mine should ever marry a soldier! The better the soldier, the more reason she should not marry him—"

      "But, sir—"

      "There's no 'but' about it!" the Colonel thundered. "You're asking me to let you murder my girl, that's all—but it's life. I'll have to give my consent and wish you good luck, long life, and all the happiness you can get out of a soldier's lot."

      The Colonel extended his hand and the Lieutenant grasped it with grateful eagerness.

      The days that followed were red lettered in the calendar of life.

      And then it came—a crash of thunder out of the clear sky—the thing he had somehow felt and dreaded.

      A petty court-martial was called to adjust a question of army discipline. The court was composed of Z. Taylor, Colonel Commanding, Major Thomas F. Smith, a fiery-tempered gay officer of the old army, Lieutenant Jefferson Davis, and the new Second Lieutenant who had just arrived from the Jefferson Barracks at St. Louis.

      The army regulations required that each officer sitting in court-martial should be in full uniform. The new arrival from St. Louis had come without his uniform. His trunk had miscarried and was returned to the Jefferson Barracks.

      He rose with embarrassment:

      "I must beg the pardon of the Court, Colonel," he began cautiously, "for not appearing in my uniform. As it is in St. Louis I respectfully ask to be excused to-day from wearing it."

      The old Colonel scowled. It was just like a young fool to wish to sit in solemn judgment on a fellow officer—in his shirt sleeves. If he had asked to be excused from serving on the Court—yes—he could accept his excuse and let him go. But this insolence was unbearable. The Colonel glanced over the Court before putting the question to a vote. Smith was his enemy. Whichever way he voted as President, the Major could be depended on to go against his decision. There was a feud between those two hot-tempered fire-eaters which had lasted for years. He glanced at his future son-in-law with a smile of assured victory. Tom Smith would vote against him, but the trembling youngster who had quailed before him that night asking for his daughter's hand was practically in the family. He smiled at the certainty of downing Smith once more.

      In a voice, whose tones left nothing to the imagination of the presumptuous Second Lieutenant, the Colonel growled:

      "Gentlemen, we are asked to allow an officer to sit in the formal judgment of a court-martial without uniform—I put the question to a vote and cast mine. No!"

      "I vote yes!" shouted the Major.

      The Colonel did not condescend to look his way. He knew what that vote was before he heard it. He bent his piercing eyes on his future son-in-law:

      "Lieutenant Davis?"

      There was just a moment's hesitation. The Lieutenant smiled at his embarrassed young fellow officer and mildly answered:

      "I think, Colonel, in view of the distance to St. Louis, we may excuse the young man for the first offense—I vote—yes."

      The old Colonel stared at him in speechless amazement. Smith grinned.

      The Colonel's face grew purple with rage. He was just able to gasp his words during the progress of the trial. It was brief, and when it ended and the rest had gone, he faced the Lieutenant with blazing eyes:

      "How dare you, sir, vote with that damned fool against me?"

      "Why, I never thought to hurt you, Colonel—"

      "No? And what did you think?"

      "I only thought of relieving the evident embarrassment of a young officer—"

      "You did, eh?—no thought of me or my feelings, of my wishes. You're a hell of a son-in-law, you are—"

      He paused for breath and choked with rage no words could express. When at last his tongue found speech, he swore in oaths more expressive and profound than modern man has ever dreamed. He damned the Court. He damned Tom Smith. He damned the Second Lieutenant. He damned the regiment. He damned the Government that created it. He damned the Indians that called it to the plains. He damned the world and all in it, and all things under it. But, particularly and specifically, he damned the young ass who dared to flaunt his feelings and opinions after smiling in his face at his house, for days and weeks and months.

      Finally, facing the blushing Lieutenant, his eyes flashing indignant scorn, he shouted:

      "No man who votes with a damned fool like Tom Smith, can marry my daughter!"

      "Colonel, I protest," pleaded the heartsick lover.

      "I forbid you to ever put your foot inside my quarters again!"

      "Colonel—"

      "Silence, sir! I forbid you to ever speak to my daughter again!"

      "But, Colonel—"

      "I repudiate you and all yours. I wipe you from the map. You don't exist. I don't know you. I never knew you. Get out of my sight!"

      The tall, slender form slowly straightened and a look of cold pride shot from the depths of his blue eyes. Without a word he turned and left.

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      Black Hawk was leading his red warriors in a great uprising. A wave of fierce excitement swept the frontier. There was stern work now for men to do and women must wait alone.

      The regiment marched to the front. The Colonel as a man was freezingly formal with the Lieutenant. As an officer, he knew his worth and relied on it in every emergency. The State of Illinois had raised two companies of raw recruits to join in subduing the Indians. The Colonel sent his most efficient subordinate to swear in the new soldiers. On the morning of the muster, there appeared before the tall Lieutenant, a man full three inches taller, and famous in his county as the gawkiest, slab-sidest, homeliest, best-natured fellow in the State. He was dressed in a suit of blue jeans.

      In slow, pleasing drawl, he announced:

      "I am the Captain, of this company—"

      And he waved his long arm toward the crowd of his countrymen on the right.

      Lieutenant Jefferson Davis promptly administered to Abraham Lincoln his first oath to support the Constitution and laws of the United States.

      Two men destined to immortal fame had met and passed with scarcely a glance at each other. The young army officer was too much of a gentleman to mark the ill-fitting blue jeans of the awkward captain of militia. Great events, after all, make men great. Only the eye of God could foresee the coming tragedy in which these two would play their mighty rôles.

      At the end of the brief struggle on the frontier, Black Hawk's people were scattered to the four winds and the brave old warrior, with a handful of his men, sought Colonel Taylor's command to surrender.

      Again, the Colonel sent his most accomplished officer, the Lieutenant whom he had forbidden to enter his house—to treat with the fallen Chief.

      The Lieutenant received with kindly words the broken-hearted warrior, his two sons and sixty braves, and conducted them at once as prisoners of war to the barracks at St. Louis.

      The cholera was raging at Rock Island, and on the boat two of the Indian prisoners were seized with the fatal disease. The Lieutenant, at the risk of his life, personally ministered to their needs. The two stricken men made known to the commander in broken words and signs that they had sworn an oath of eternal friendship. In pleading tones the stronger said:

      "We

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