Corporal Cameron

R >> Ralph Connor >> Corporal Cameron


"You must go!" cried Mandy, quick fear springing into her eyes.

"Yes," said Cameron, "at once. Come, I shall take you home."

"No, never mind me!" she cried. "Go! Go! I can take care of myself. I
shall follow." Her voice rang out strong and clear; she was herself once
more.

"You are the right sort, Mandy," cried Cameron, taking her hand. "Good
bye!"

"Good bye!" she replied, her face suddenly pale and her lips beginning
to quiver. "I shall always remember--I--shall--always be glad for--what
you said today."

Cameron stood looking at her for a moment somewhat uncertainly, then,

"Good bye!" he said abruptly, and, turning, went at the double towards
his quarters.

The strikers had indeed broken loose, supported by the ruffianly horde
of camp followers who were egging them on to violence and destruction of
property. At present they were wild with triumph over the fact that they
had rescued one of their leaders, big Joe Coyle, from Constable Scott.
It was an exceedingly dangerous situation, for the riot might easily
spread from camp to camp. Bruised and bloody, Constable Scott reported
to Superintendent Strong lying upon his sick bed.

"Sergeant," said the Superintendent, "take Constables Cameron and Scott,
arrest that man at once and bring him here!"

In the village they found between eight hundred and a thousand men, many
of them crazed with bad whiskey, some armed with knives and some with
guns, and all ready for blood. Big Joe Coyle they found in the saloon.
Pushing his way through, the Sergeant seized his man by the collar.

"Come along, I want you!" he said, dragging him to the open door.

"Shut that there door, Hep!" drawled a man with a goatee and a moustache
dyed glossy black.

"All right, Bill!" shouted the man called Hep, springing to the door;
but before he could make it Cameron had him by the collar.

"Hold on, Hep!" he said, "not so fast."

For answer Hep struck hard at him and the crowd of men threw themselves
at Cameron and between him and the door. Constable Scott, who also had
his hand upon the prisoner, drew his revolver and looked towards the
Sergeant who was struggling in the grasp of three or four ruffians.

"No!" shouted the Sergeant above the uproar. "Don't shoot--we have no
orders! Let him go!"

"Go on!" he said savagely, giving his prisoner a final shake. "We will
come back for you."

There was a loud chorus of derisive cheers. The crowd opened and allowed
the Sergeant and constables to pass out. Taking his place at the saloon
door with Constable Scott, the Sergeant sent Cameron to report and ask
for further orders.

"Ask if we have orders to shoot," said the Sergeant.

Cameron found the Superintendent hardly able to lift his head and made
his report.

"The saloon is filled with men who oppose the arrest, Sir. What are your
orders?"

"My orders are, Bring that man here, and at once!"

"Have we instructions to shoot?"

"Shoot!" cried the Superintendent, lifting himself on his elbow. "Bring
that man if you have to shoot every man in the saloon!"

"Very well, Sir, we will bring him," said Cameron, departing on a run.

At the door of the saloon he found the Sergeant and Constable white hot
under the jeers and taunts of the half drunken gang gathered about them.

"What are the orders, Constable Cameron?" enquired the Sergeant in a
loud voice.

"The orders are, Shoot every man in the saloon if necessary!" shouted
Cameron.

"Revolvers!" commanded the Sergeant. "Constable Cameron, hold the door!
Constable Scott, follow me!"

At the door stood the man named Hep, evidently keeping guard.

"Want in?" he said with a grin.

For answer, Cameron gripped his collar, with one fierce jerk lifted him
clear out of the door to the platform, and then, putting his body into
it, heaved him with a mighty swing far into the crowd below, bringing
two or three men to the ground with the impact of his body.

"Come here, man!" cried Cameron again, seizing a second man who stood
near the door and flinging him clear off the platform after the unlucky
Hep.

Speedily the crowd about the door gave back, and before they were aware
the Sergeant and Constable Scott appeared with big Joe Coyle between
them.

"Take him!" said the Sergeant to Cameron.

Cameron seized him by the collar.

"Come here!" he said, and, clearing the platform in a spring, he brought
his prisoner in a heap with him. "Get up!" he roared at him, jerking him
to his feet as if he had been a child.

"Let him go!" shouted the man with the goatee, named Bill, rushing up.

"Take that, then," said Cameron, giving him a swift half-arm jab on the
jaw, "and I'll come back for you again," he added, as the man fell back
into the arms of his friends.

"Forward!" said the Sergeant, falling in with Constable Scott behind
Cameron and facing the crowd with drawn revolvers. The swift fierceness
of the attack seemed to paralyse the senses of the crowd.

"Come on, boys!" yelled the goatee man, bloody and savage with Cameron's
blow. "Don't let the blank blank blank rattle you like a lot of blank
blank chickens. Come on!"

At once rose a roar from eight hundred throats like nothing human in
its sound, and the crowd began to press close upon the Police. But the
revolvers had an ugly appearance to those in front looking into their
little black throats.

"Aw, come on!" yelled a man half drunk, running with a lurch upon the
Sergeant.

"Crack!" went the Sergeant's revolver, and the man dropped with a bullet
through his shoulder.

"Next man," shouted the Sergeant, "I shall kill!"

The crowd gave back and gathered round the wounded man. A stream lay in
the path of the Police, crossed by a little bridge.

"Hurry!" said the Sergeant, "let's make the bridge before they come
again." But before they could make the bridge the crowd had recovered
from their momentary panic and, with wild oaths and yells and
brandishing knives and guns, came on with a rush, led by goatee Bill.

Already the prisoner was half way across the bridge, the Sergeant and
the constable guarding the entrance, when above the din was heard a roar
as of some animal enraged. Looking beyond the Police the crowd beheld
a fearsome sight. It was the Superintendent himself, hatless, and with
uniform in disarray, a sword in one hand, a revolver in the other.
Across the bridge he came like a tornado and, standing at the entrance,
roared,

"Listen to me, you dogs! The first man who sets foot on this bridge I
shall shoot dead, so help me God!"

His towering form, his ferocious appearance and his well-known
reputation for utter fearlessness made the crowd pause and, before they
could make up their minds to attack that resolute little company headed
by their dread commander, the prisoner was safe over the bridge and
well up the hill toward the guard room. Half way up the hill the
Superintendent met Cameron returning from the disposition of his
prisoner.

"There's another man down there, Sir, needs looking after," he said.

"Better let them cool off, Cameron," said the Superintendent.

"I promised I'd go for him, Sir," said Cameron, his face all ablaze for
battle.

"Then go for him," said the Superintendent. "Let a couple of you go
along--but I am done--just now."

"We will see you up the hill, Sir," said the Sergeant.

"Come on, Scott!" said Cameron, setting off for the village once more.

The crowd had returned from the bridge and the leaders had already
sought their favourite resort, the saloon. Straight to the door marched
Cameron, followed by Scott. Close to the counter stood goatee Bill,
loudly orating, and violently urging the breaking in of the guard room
and the release of the prisoner.

"In my country," he yelled, "we'd have that feller out in about six
minutes in spite of all the blank blank Police in this blank country.
THEY ain't no good. They're scairt to death."

At this point Cameron walked in upon him and laid a compelling grip upon
his collar. Instantly Bill reached for his gun, but Cameron, swiftly
shifting his grip to his arm, wrenched him sharply about and struck him
one blow on the ear. As if held by a hinge, the head fell over on one
side and the man slithered to the floor.

"Out of the way!" shouted Cameron, dragging his man with him, but just
as he reached the door a heavy glass came singing through the air and
caught him on the head. For a moment he staggered, caught hold of the
lintel and held himself steady.

"Here, Scott," he cried, "put the bracelets on him."

With revolver drawn Constable Scott sprang to his side.

"Come out!" he said to the goatee man, slipping the handcuffs over his
wrists, while Cameron, still clinging to the lintel, was fighting back
the faintness that was overpowering him. Seeing his plight, Hep sprang
toward him, eager for revenge, but Cameron covering him with his gun
held him in check and, with a supreme effort getting command of himself,
again stepped towards Hep.

"Now, then," he said between his clenched teeth, "will you come?" So
terrible were his voice and look that Hep's courage wilted.

"I'll come, Colonel, I'll come," he said quickly.

"Come then," said Cameron, reaching for him and bringing him forward
with a savage jerk.

In three minutes from the time the attack was made both men, thoroughly
subdued and handcuffed, were marched off in charge of the constables.

"Hurry, Scott," said Cameron in a low voice to his comrade. "I am nearly
in."

With all possible speed they hustled their prisoners along over the
bridge and up the hill. At the hospital door, as they passed, Dr. Martin
appeared.

"Hello, Cameron!" he cried. "Got him, eh? Great Caesar, man, what's
up?" he added as Cameron, turning his head, revealed a face and neck
bathed in blood. "You are white as a ghost."

"Get me a drink, old chap. I am nearly in," said Cameron in a faint
voice.

"Come into my tent here," said the doctor.

"Got to see these prisoners safe first," said Cameron, swaying on his
feet.

"Come in, you idiot!" cried the doctor.

"Go in, Cameron," said Constable Scott. "I'll take care of 'em all
right," he added, drawing his gun.

"No," said Cameron, still with his hand on goatee Bill's collar. "I'll
see them safe first," saying which he swayed drunkenly about and, but
for Bill's support, would have fallen.

"Go on!" said Bill good-naturedly. "Don't mind me. I'm good now."

"Come!" said the doctor, supporting him into the tent.

"Forward!" commanded Constable Scott, and marched his prisoners before
him up the hill.

The wound on Cameron's head was a ghastly affair, full six inches long,
and went to the bone.

"Rather ugly," said the doctor, feeling round the wound. "Nurse!" he
called. "Nurse!" The little nurse came running in. "Some water and a
sponge!"

There was a cry behind her--low, long, pitiful.

"Oh, what is this?" With a swift movement Nurse Haley was beside the
doctor's bed. Cameron, who had been lying with his eyes closed and was
ghastly white from loss of blood, opened his eyes and smiled up into the
face above him.

"I feel fine--now," he said and closed his eyes again.

"Let me do that," said Nurse Haley with a kind of jealous fierceness,
taking the sponge and basin from the little nurse.

Examination revealed nothing more serious, however, than a deep scalp
wound and a slight concussion.

"He will be fit enough in a couple of days," said the doctor when the
wound was dressed.

Then, pale and haggard as if with long watching, Nurse Haley went to her
room there to fight out her lonely fight while Cameron slept.

The day passed in quiet, the little nurse on guard, and the doctor
looking in every half hour upon his patient. As evening fell Cameron
woke and demanded Nurse Haley. The doctor felt his pulse.

"Send her in!" he said and left the tent.

The rays of the sun setting far down the Pass shone through the walls
and filled the tent with a soft radiance. Into this radiance she came,
her face pale as of one who has come through conflict, and serene as of
one who has conquered, pale and strong and alight, not with the radiance
of the setting sun, but with light of a soul that has made the ancient
sacrifice of self-effacing love.

"You want me?" she said, her voice low and sweet, but for all her brave
serenity tremulous.

"Yes," said Cameron, holding out his arms. "I want you; I want YOU,
Mandy."

"Oh," cried the girl, while her hands fluttered to her heart, "don't ask
me to go through it again. I am so weak." She stood like a frightened
bird poised for flight.

"Come," he said, "I want you."

"You want me? You said you wanted to take care of me," she breathed.

"I was a fool, Mandy; a conceited fool! Now I know what I want--I
want--just YOU. Come." Again he lifted his arms.

"Oh, it cannot be," she breathed as if to herself. "Are you sure--sure?
I could not bear it if you were not sure."

"Come, dear love," he cried, "with all my heart and soul and body I want
you--I want only YOU."

For a single moment longer she stood, her soul searching his through her
wonderful eyes. Then with a little sigh she sank into his arms.

"Oh, my darling," she whispered, wreathing her strong young arms around
his neck and laying her cheek close to his, "my darling, I thought I had
given you up, but how could I have done it?"

At the hospital door the doctor was on guard. A massive figure loomed in
the doorway.

"Hello, Superintendent Strong, what on earth are you doing out of bed?"

"Where is he?" said the Superintendent abruptly.

"Who?"

"Corporal Cameron."

"CORPORAL Cameron? Constable Cameron is--"

"Corporal Cameron, I said. I have just had Constable Scott's report and
felt I must see him at once."

"Come in, Superintendent! Sit down! I shall enquire if he is resting.
Nurse! Nurse! Enquire if Corporal Cameron can be seen."

The little nurse tip-toed into the doctor's tent, lifted the curtain,
took one glance and drew swiftly back. This is what her eyes looked
upon. A girl's form kneeling by the bed, golden hair mingling with black
upon the pillow, two strong arms holding her close and hers wreathed in
answering embrace.

"Mr. Cameron I am afraid," she reported, "cannot be seen. He is--I
think--he is--engaged."

"Ah!" said the doctor.

"Well," said the Superintendent, "just tell Corporal Cameron for me that
I am particularly well pleased with his bearing to-day, and that I hope
he will be very soon fit for duty."

"Certainly, Superintendent. Now let me help you up the hill."

"Never mind, here's the Sergeant. Good evening! Very fine thing! Very
fine thing indeed! I see rapid promotion in his profession for that
young man."

"Inspector, eh?" said the doctor.

"Yes, Sir, I should without hesitation recommend him and should be only
too pleased to have him as Inspector in my command."

It was not, however, as Inspector that Corporal Cameron served under the
gallant Superintendent, but in another equally honourable capacity did
they ride away together one bright April morning a few weeks later, on
duty for their Queen and country. But that is another story.

"That message ought to be delivered, nurse," said the doctor
thoughtfully.

"But not at once," replied the nurse.

"It is important," urged the doctor.

"Yes, but--there are other things."

"Ah! Other things?"

"Yes, equally--pressing," said the nurse with an undeniably joyous
laugh. The doctor looked at her a moment.

"Ah, nurse," he said in a shocked tone, "how often have I deprecated
your tendency to--"

"I don't care one bit!" laughed the nurse saucily.

"The message ought to be delivered," insisted the doctor firmly as he
moved toward the tent door.

"Well, deliver it then. But wait!" The little nurse ran in before him
and called "Nu-u-u-r-s-e Ha-l-ey!"

"All right!" called Cameron from the inside. "Come in!"

"Go on then," said the little nurse to the doctor, "you wanted to."

"A message from the Superintendent," said the doctor, lifting the
curtain and passing in.

"Don't move, Mandy," said Cameron. "Never mind him."

"No, don't, I beg," said the doctor, ignoring what he saw. "A message,
an urgent message for--Corporal Cameron!"

"CORPORAL Cameron?" echoed Nurse Haley.

"He distinctly said and repeated it--Corporal Cameron. And the Corporal
is to report for duty as speedily as possible."

"He can't go," said Mandy, standing up very straight with a light in
her eyes that the doctor had not seen since that tragic night nearly two
years before.

"Can't, eh?" said the doctor. "But the Superintendent says Corporal
Cameron is--"

"Corporal Cameron can't go!"

"You--"

"Yes, I forbid it."

"The Corporal is--?"

"Yes," she said proudly, "the Corporal is mine."

"Then," said the doctor emphatically, "of all the lucky chaps it has
been my fortune to meet, by all the gods the luckiest of them is this
same Corporal Cameron!"

And Cameron, drawing down to him again the girl standing so straight and
proud beside him, looked up at his friend and said:

"Yes, old chap, the luckiest man in all the world is that same Corporal
Cameron."