Trooper Tales — page 42: what you’re looking at

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

34 The Silent Trooper. Lander turned, looked devilish and raised his big right arm. His superior officer was under it. But Lander’s arm never touched Lieut. Crim, a circum- stance which made me cry aloud: “Thank God!” | It dropped down, while Lander laughed low and me- lodiously. I was thinking how wicked Lander looked when he laughed that way. Then the bugle sounded “stables.” : Every man in the troop detested the lieutenant, and all admired Lander for keeping his nerve. One of the most unprofitable things a soldier can do is to strike a superior officer. The same kind of a finish awaits him as if he had been found sleeping at his post. I watched Lander, and Lander watched Lieut. Crim during the several following weeks. And they were not pretty eyes, those strange eyes of Lander’s, as they trailed the movements of his superior officer. To all he preserved his self-bound intensity. Glad, in- deed, would I have been to come very close to the heart of this silent man, because I learned to have deep feelings for him. He possessed the cold nerve which makes heroes, and the great, warm heart which makes friends— I was sure of this. But his nature was broad enough to cover his troubles, so he did not confide in men. Heroes can hate well. Why my eyes wandered to the opposite side of one of Lander’s letters while he was holding it up, and there lingered for a single disgraceful second, is something comichooks (GO)