RIDGE BECOMES A TROOPER
While our hero stood irresolute, he saw Silas Pine gain a sitting
posture, and gaze about him with the air of one who is dazed.
[Illustration: "Silas Pine gazed about him with the air of one who is
dazed."]
"Are you badly hurt?" inquired Ridge, as he reached the man's side.
"I don't know," replied Silas, moving his limbs cautiously, and feeling
of various portions of his body to ascertain if any bones were broken.
"Reckon not. But will you kindly tell me what happened?"
"You were breaking in Mr. Van Kyp's horse, and got thrown," replied
Ridge, as gravely as possible, but with an irrepressible smile lurking
in the corners of his mouth.
The bronco-buster, noting this, became instantly filled with wrath.
"Got thrown, did I? And you think it a thing to laugh at, do you?
Well, you wouldn't if you'd been in my place. I claim to know
something about hosses, and I tell you that's not one at all. She's a
'hoss devil,' that's what she is, for all she looks quiet as a sheep.
But I'll kill her yet or die trying to tame her; for such a brute's not
fit to live."
"Won't you let me try my hand at it first?" asked Ridge.
"You? you?" exclaimed the man in contemptuous amazement. "Yes, I will,
for if you are fool enough to tackle her, you are only fit to be
killed, and might as well die now as later. Oh yes, young feller, you
can try it; only leave us a lock of your hair to remember you by, and
we'll give you a first-class funeral."
By this time two Mexican riders, who had started in pursuit of the
runaway animal, had cornered it in an angle of the high fence
surrounding the camp-grounds, flung their ropes over its head, and were
dragging it back, choking and gasping for breath, to the scene of its
recent triumph.
"Hold on!" cried Ridge in Spanish, running towards them as he spoke,
and shouting commands in their own language.
Slipping the cruel ropes from the neck of the quivering mare, that
stared at him with wild eyes, Ridge petted and soothed her, at the same
time talking gently in Spanish, a tongue that she showed signs of
understanding by pricking forward her shapely ears. After a little
Ridge led the animal to a watering-trough, where she drank greedily,
and then into camp, where he begged a handful of sugar from one of the
cooks.
Some ten minutes later, without having yet attempted to gain the
saddle, he led the mare back to the place from which they had started,
all the while talking to her and stroking her glossy neck.
"Why don't you ride?" growled Silas Pine, who still remained on the
scene of his recent discomfiture, and had watched Ridge's movements
curiously. "Any fool can lead a hoss to water and back again."
For answer Ridge gathered up the bridle reins, and placing his hands on
pommel and cantle, sprang lightly into the saddle.
The mare laid her ears flat back and began to tremble with rage, but
her rider, bending low over the proud neck, talked to her as though she
were a human being, and in another moment they were off like the wind.
Twice they circled the entire grounds at a speed as yet unequalled in
the camp, and then drew up sharply where Silas Pine still stood
awaiting them.
"Mr. Norris," said that individual, stepping forward, "I owe you an
apology, and must say I never saw a finer--"
Just here the mare snapped viciously at the bronco-buster, from whose
spurs her flanks were still bleeding, and leaped sideways with so
sudden a movement that any but a most practiced rider would have been
flung to the ground. Without appearing in the least disconcerted by
this performance, Ridge began to reply to Silas Pine, but was
interrupted by the approach of the two mounted officers, who had
watched the recent lesson in bronco-breaking with deep interest.
"Can you do that with any horse?" inquired Lieutenant-Colonel
Roosevelt, abruptly.
"I believe I can, sir," replied Ridge, lifting his hand in salute.
"I heard you talking in Spanish. Do you speak it fluently?"
"As well as I do English, sir."
"I believe you wish to enlist in this regiment?"
"I do, sir."
"You are a friend of Private Van Kyp?"
"Yes, sir."
"The one in whose behalf he was about to make application."
Ridge again answered in the affirmative.
"Colonel, I believe we want this young man."
"I believe we do," replied Colonel Wood. Then, to Ridge, he added: "If
you can pass a satisfactory physical examination, I know of no reason
why you should not be permitted to join this command. I want you to
understand, though, that every man admitted to it is chosen solely for
personal merit, and not through friendship or any influence, political
or otherwise, that he may possess. Now you may take that horse to the
picket-line, see that it is properly cared for, and report at my
quarters in half an hour."
Without uttering a word in reply, but again saluting, Ridge rode away
happier than he had ever been in his life, and prouder even than when
he had won the silver hurdles at Yokohama.
An hour later he had successfully passed his physical examination, and
was waiting, with a dozen other recruits, to be sworn into the military
service of the United States. To these men came Lieutenant-Colonel
Roosevelt, who had just resigned the Assistant-Secretaryship of the
Navy in order to join the front rank of those who were to fight his
country's battles. To them he said: "Gentlemen, you have reached the
last point. If any one of you does not mean business, let him say so
now. In a few minutes more it will be too late to back out. Once in,
you must see the thing through, performing without flinching whatever
duty is assigned to you, regardless of its difficulty or danger. If it
be garrison duty, you must attend to it; if meeting the fever, you must
be willing; if it is the hardest kind of fighting, you must be anxious
for it. You must know how to ride, how to shoot, and how to live in
the open, lacking all the luxuries and often the necessities of life.
No matter what comes, you must not squeal. Remember, above everything,
that absolute obedience to every command is your first lesson. Now
think it over, and if any man wishes to withdraw, he will be gladly
excused, for hundreds stand ready to take his place."
Did any of those young men accept this chance to escape the dangers and
privations, the hardships and sufferings, awaiting them? Not one, but
all joined in an eager rivalry to first take the oath of allegiance and
obedience, and sign the regimental roll.
As it happened, this honor fell to Ridge Norris, and a few minutes
later he passed out of the building an enlisted soldier of the United
States, a private in its first regiment of volunteer cavalry, and
ordered to report to the first sergeant of Troop "K"--Rollo Van Kyp's
troop, he remembered with pleasure. "Poor old boy! how I wish I could
see him and tell him of my good luck!" he reflected. "Wonder how long
he will be kept in that beastly guard-house?"
At the moment our young trooper was passing headquarters, and even as
this thought came into his mind, he was bidden by Colonel Wood to
deliver a written order to the corporal of the guard. "It is for the
release from arrest of your friend Van Kyp," explained the colonel,
kindly, "and you may tell him that it was obtained through the
intercession of Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt."
With a light heart Ridge hastened to perform this first act of his
military service; and not long afterwards he and Rollo were happily
engaged, under the supervision of Sergeant Higgins, in erecting the
little dog-tent that they were to occupy in company, and settling their
scanty belongings within its narrow limits. When this was finally
accomplished to their satisfaction, they went to the picket-line to
visit the pretty and high-spirited mare that had been the immediate
cause of Ridge's good fortune.
"Isn't she a beauty?" he exclaimed, walking directly up to the mare,
and throwing an arm about her neck, a caress to which the animal
submitted with evident pleasure.
"Yes," admitted Rollo, hesitatingly, as he stepped nimbly aside to
avoid a snap of white teeth. "I suppose she is, but she seems awfully
vicious, and I can't say that she is exactly the style of horse that I
most admire. Tell you what I'll do, Norris. I'll give her to you,
seeing that you and she seem to hit it off so well. You've won her by
rights, anyhow."
Ridge's face flushed. He already loved the mare, and longed to own
her, but his pride forbade him to accept so valuable a gift from one
who was but little more than a stranger. So he said;
"Oh no! Thanks, awfully, old man, but I couldn't think of taking her
in that way. If you don't mind, though, I'll buy the mare of you,
gladly paying whatever you gave for her."
"Very good," replied Rollo, who imagined Ridge to be quite well off,
and to whom any question of money was of slight consequence. "I paid
an even hundred dollars for her with saddle and bridle thrown in, and
if you won't accept her as a gift, you may have her for that sum."
"Done," said Ridge, "and here's your money." With this he pulled from
his pocket the roll of bills that his father, bidding him not to spend
them recklessly, had thrust into his hand on parting, and which until
now he had not found occasion to touch.
Although this left our young soldier penniless, he did not for a moment
regret the transaction by which he had gained possession of what he
considered the very best mount in the whole regiment. He at once named
the beautiful mare "Señorita," and upon her he lavished a wealth of
affection that seemed to be fully reciprocated. While no one else
could do anything with her, in Ridge's hands she gained a knowledge of
cavalry tactics as readily as did her young master, and by her quick
precision of movement when on drill or parade she was instrumental in
raising him first to the grade of corporal, and then to that of
sergeant, which was the rank he held three weeks later, on the eve of
the Rough Riders' departure for Tampa.
In the mean time the days spent at San Antonio were full of active
interest and hard work from morning reveille until the mellow
trumpet-notes of taps. At the same time it was work mixed with a vast
amount of harmless skylarking, in which both Ridge and Rollo took such
active part as to win the liking of every member of their troop.
Each day heard the same anxious inquiry from a thousand tongues: "When
shall we go to the front? Is the navy going to fight out this war
without the army getting a show?"
"Be patient," counselled the wiser men, "and our chance will come. The
powerful Spanish fleet under Admiral Cervera must first be located and
rendered harmless, while the army must be licked into effective shape
before it is allowed to fight."
They heard of the blockade by the navy of Havana and other Cuban ports,
of the apparently fruitless bombardment of San Juan in Porto Rico, and
of the great gathering of troops and transports at Tampa. Finally came
the welcome news that the dreaded Spanish fleet was safely bottled by
Admiral Sampson in the narrow harbor of Santiago.
Then on the 29th of May, only a little more than one month after the
declaration of war, came the welcome order to move to Tampa and the
front. Instantly the camp presented a scene of wildest bustle and
excitement. One hundred railway cars, in six long trains, awaited the
Riders. The regiment was drawn up as if for parade.
"Forward, march!" ordered Colonel Wood.
"On to Cuba!" sang the trumpets.
And the "Terrors" yelled themselves hoarse at the prospect of being let
loose.