Trooper Tales — page 249: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Ji ge Ron Mp ween rrr nee esa ml A Soldier and a Man. 233 It was Trooper Arden who smiled at Eulalie and turned his head away so quickly, while riding with the main guard that morning. In an hour later he had for- gotten. His horse was Palto, the unkillable, whose tem- per was as rocky as his sinews were tough—Palto, the six-year-old, who alone kept his appetite during the eleven-day transport horror, and who kicked out of pure joy every time a nose-bag was strapped over his white face. Palto had a habit of kicking promiscuously, any- way. He also bit with abandon, but he was solid with Trooper Arden. Only one thing beside the trooper’s smile did Eulalie, the little red maiden, remember the next day; and, strangely enough, this one thing was that the horse which her soldier had ridden was possessed of a white face. And that evening just after retreat, Arden walked down to the stables just to be alone, and in the twilight he saw queer things. It was quite dark under the canvas of the stables, and ~as Arden strolled nearer, he heard sounds soft and low— the sound of words which were strangely sweet. The trooper paused and watched, rolling a cigarette mean- while. The troop horses were grinding at their oats and snorting the dust of the dry hay from their nostrils. Surely, here was something wonderful! Was there not some one standing close to the white face of Palto, the unkillable ? Yes, and it was a girlish form, and her head was snug- GOMIIGcdooksscom