Adventure Magazine, March 1916 — page 210: what you’re looking at

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

208 captain, a shy light in the softened brown eyes, his lip twitching with an embarrassed smile. “Tt’s all right, Captain,” he said. “Sup- pose you’ve noticed, anyhow. I—I suppose you’ve wondered, too, why I suddenly be- came so anxious to be an officer of some sort. Well—she did it. She——” Suddenly he — the picture into Bunga’s hands. - “Say, isn’t she just a little bit beyond the top hole side of all right?”’ Bunga looked; and again he was forced to hide his real impressions. The girl was amazingly pretty, but no one feature merged with the others to give forth a sig- nificant impression. One might have seen her every day for months, only to find him- self unable to visualize her features after a week of separation. “H’m!” he said. daughter, isn’t she?”’ “Ves. I met her while taking those first exams in Manila. She’d been in Hong Kong, touring, but when she heard that the Brigadier would soon be taking command here, she decided to visit the Lieutenant- General’s wife.” “Well, sir, she’s a very pretty girl. If I am to congratulate you——”’ Gordon blushed. “No, no. It hasn’t gone that far yet. Though I think——” _ He broke off, while a faint cloud settled upon his features. “Tt hasn’t gone that far,” he said at last, ‘‘because—well, I'll tell you. After all, T’m just a little afraid that the governor has his heart set on my marrying that girl back home. So I really want to be inde- pendent of him.”’ “Quite right. You can not go against a man’s wishes and feel like taking his money, can your”’ “No. I can’t very well ask a girl to marry me until I have some money saved, either.” “That's good thinking, my boy, ” Bunga smiled. ‘You’re coming along.” “Oh, I give her the credit. She’s service- bred, you know. If it hadn’t been for her, T’m afraid ——” “Tut, tut. You’ve advanced too far to talk that way. Granted that she furnished you with an incentive. But never forget this: A man is his deeds, and for these, first of all, he is responsible to himself. “She’s the Brigadier’s Adventure Thank her all you wish, but if she were to die tomorrow—”’ and Bunga winced at a memory—‘‘go right on doing the work you have set out to-do. For after you get through paying the debts you owe to yourself, you’ ‘ll find you don’t owe any to any one else.” A new trend of thought will ofttimes prove to be a man’s salvation; but optimis- tic youth is slow to believe in the need of anything beneath the patent externals. Not believing himself in immediate need of salvation, it is not likely that Gordon spent over two ‘minutes digesting this sermon. Nevertheless, in the weeks that followed, the words did recur to him; and at least he applied himself to his work with an energy and enthusiasm that soon brought results. At first he judged these results from the changes manifested in his men. While there were twenty veteran Moro soldiers to work with, the rest were mangy, black- haired, black-toothed cargadores whom he must teach to walk properly, to. shoot straight, and to obey implicitly. There was need for haste, too, as Dato Pedro, who had enjoyed the freedom of isolation before the appearance of this com- pany upon his borders, resented bitterly the arrests which Gordon made after each reported crime. Possessing no rifles as yet, and having but four hundred warriors, the old pulajane did not feel strong enough to attack the constabulary ew force; but it was rumored that he was stirring up adjacent tribes with promises of loot, and at any- time he might swoop down upon the little post with enough men to wipe it from the earth. Hence, as the men began to show in their well-drilled shoulders tHe ‘“‘set’’ of units whose minds and bodies could be locked into one reliable whole at a word of com- mand, the heart of the boy glowed warm within him. His men were beginning to show the marks of a work well done. When he came down occasionally to visit Bunga, the little man took note of the effect all this was having upon the boy himself, and smiled. ‘The deepened tones of the voice, the firmer lines of the lips, and the tightening of the jaw muscles were all good omens. See But Gordon, all aglow with the joy and the possible reward of his work, gave no heed to the testimony of introspection, He wrote glowing letters to “her” each day— aniiceloveye) <S) (EO) ~ eoy