And so they had on one road, but there are others, better guarded,
better run. The sun is well over to the west again, Chicago is
resigning itself to another night of horror, when from the suburbs
there comes gliding in to the heart of the city the oddest-looking
railway train that has been seen for years: a sight at which a host of
riotous men break away from the threatening front, dragging with them
those "pals" whom drink has either maddened or stupefied; a sight at
which skulking blackguards who have picked up paving-stones drop them
into the gutters and think twice before they lay hand on their
revolver butts. No puffing engine hauls the train: the motor-power is
at the rear. First and foremost is a platform car,--open, uncovered,
but over its buffer glisten the barrels of the dreaded Gatling gun,
and around the gun--can these be soldiers? Covered with dust and
cinders, hardly a vestige of uniform among them, in the shabbiest of
old felt hats, in hunting-shirts of flannel or buckskin, in scout-worn
trousers and Indian leggings, but with their prairie-belts crammed
with copper cartridges, their brawny brown hands grasping the browner
carbine, their keen eyes peering straight into the faces of the
thronging crowd, their bronze features set and stern, the whole car
fairly bristles with men who have fought tribe after tribe of savage
foes from the Yellowstone to the Sonora line, and who hold a savage
mob in utter contempt. Here by the hub of the Gatling's wheel stands
old Feeny, close at the elbow of dark-faced Drummond. "C" troop's
first platoon "mans" the Gatling gun, and under its old leader of the
Arizona campaigns "leads the procession" into the "Garden City" of the
ante-bellum days. By Drummond's side is a railway official gazing
ahead to see that every switch is properly set and signalling back to
the engineer when to "slow," when to come confidently ahead. Behind
the platform car come ordinary baggage and passenger coaches, black
with men in the same rough, devil-may-care scouting rig. All but their
horses and horse equipments left with the quartermaster at the Sidney
station, the battalion has been run to Chicago exactly as it came from
the plains, and Chicago's "toughs," who would have hooted and jeered,
perhaps, at sight of polished brasses and natty uniforms, recoil
bewildered before this gang of silent and disciplined "jay-hawkers."
Steadily, silently, ominously, the train rolls along. As it is
rounding a curve several ugly-looking fellows are seen running at
speed towards the switch-lever at the next street-crossing. Excitedly
the railway man clutches Drummond's elbow and points. Two troopers are
kneeling close at hand.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account