Trooper Tales — page 250: what you’re looking at

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

234 A Soldier and a Man. gled closely into the mane of Palto, the white-faced. And, Caramba! ‘The brute Palto was as gentle as the girl herself! Trooper Arden crept closer. The cigarette remained unlit in his lips. Far up the trail the great white cliffs were monstrous gray and gloomy, standing out against the purple of evening. Beyond the stars were growing and whitening. A bunch of cavalrymen in the plaza were singing a song of the Northland. “Buenos nochas, senorita,’ Trooper Arden said softly. He looked like a different fellow when he smiled as he did that moment. Eulalie turned. The cavalryman could not see the ter- ror that was in her great, dark eyes. Slowly he ap- proached and placed his hand gently upon her arm. With the other he rubbed the forehead of Palto, the unkillable, talking softly all the while. And gradually there crept into the soul of the little red maiden a joy which was great and new. There was no need to fear, for had not the big soldier smiled? After a little while Eulalie pressed her lips to the soft muzzle of the troop horse; and strangely enough Palto, of reputations numerously bad, seemed to like it. And Trooper Arden smiled again, and walked out to- ward the forage-tent, while Eulalie followed. Standing there in the fading twilight, an impulse came to the sol- dier—an impulse which he had long thought was dead within him. He kissed the little red maiden. There was something about that kiss which made the trooper reflect. Perhaps his thoughts concerned some EComichbooksscom