The Colonel of the Red Huzzars

The Colonel of the Red Huzzars

It was raining heavily and I fastened my overcoat to the neck as I came down the steps of the Government Building. Pushing through the crowds and clanging electric cars, at the Smithfield Street corner, I turned toward Penn Avenue and the Club, whose home is in a big, old-fashioned, grey-stone buildingsole remnant of aristocracy in that section where, once, naught else had been. For three years I had been the engineer officer in charge of the Pittsburgh Harbor, and "the navigable rivers thereunto belonging"as my friend, the District Judge, across the hall, would sayand my relief was due next week. Nor was I sorry. I was tired of dams and bridges and jobs, of levels and blue prints and mathematics. I wanted my sword and pistolsa horse between my legsthe smell of gunpowder in the air. I craved actionsomething more stirring than dirty banks and filthy water and coal-barges bound for Southern markets. Five years ago my detail would have been the envy of half the Corps. But times were changed. The Spanish War had done more than give straps to a lot of civilians with pulls; it had eradicated the dry-rot from the Army. The officer with the soft berth was no longer deemed lucky; promotion passed him by and seized upon his fellow in the field. I had missed the war in China and the fighting in the Philippines and, as a consequence, had seen juniors lifted over me. Yet, possibly, I had small cause to grumble; for my own gold leaves had dropped upon me in Cuba, to the disadvantage of many who were my elders, and, doubtless, my betters as well. I had applied for active service, but evidently it had not met with approval, for my original orders to report to the Chief of Engineers were still unchanged. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 17131
Author: Scott, John Reed
Release Date: Nov 22, 2005
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Illustrator: Underwood, Clarence F., 1871-1929