I Was Sitting By The Window
In Our Car And Saw The Dogs Go Over The Rolling Hill, And Saw Also
That A Dozen Or More Soldiers Were Running After Them.
I told Faye
what had happened, and he started out and over the hill on a hard run.
Time passed, and we in the cars watched, but neither men nor dogs came
back.
Finally a long whistle was blown from the engine, and in a short
time the train began to move very slowly. The officers and men came
running back, but the dogs were not with them! My heart was almost
broken; to leave my beautiful dog on the plains to starve to death was
maddening. I wanted to be alone, so to the dressing room I went, and
with face buried in a portiere was sobbing my very breath away when
Mrs. Pierce, wife of Major Pierce, came in and said so sweetly and
sympathetically: "Don't cry, dear; Hal is following the car and the
conductor is going to stop the train."
Giving her a hasty embrace, I ran back to the end of the last car, and
sure enough, there was Hal, the old Hal, bounding along with tail high
up and eyes sparkling, showing that the blood of his ancestors was
still in his veins. The conductor did not stop the train, simply
because the soldiers did not give him an opportunity. They turned the
brakes and then held them, and if a train man had interfered there
would have been a fight right then and there.
As soon as the train was stopped Faye and Ryan were the first to go
for the dogs, but by that time the hounds thought the whole affair
great fun and objected to being caught - at least Ryan's dog objected.
The porter in our car caught Hal, but Ryan told him to let the dog go,
that he would bring the two back together. This was shrewd in Ryan,
for he reasoned that Major Carleton might wait for an officer's dog,
but never for one that belonged to only an enlisted man; but really it
was the other way, the enlisted men held the brakes. The dogs ran back
almost a mile to the water tank, and the conductor backed the train
down after them, and not until both dogs were caught and on board
could steam budge it ahead.
The major was in temporary command of the regiment at that time. He is
a very pompous man and always in fear that proper respect will not be
shown his rank, and when we were being backed down he went through our
car and said in a loud voice: "I am very sorry Mrs. Rae, that you
should lose your fine greyhound, but this train cannot be detained any
longer - it must move on!" I said nothing, for I saw the two big men in
blue at the brake in front, and knew Major Carleton would never order
them away, much as he might bluster and try to impress us with his
importance, for he is really a tender-hearted man.
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