The Silver Messenger

LOVING A GHOST

BY BUFFALO BILL

(Copyrighted by The Daily Story Pub. Co.)

Two schoolgirls could not be more devoted chums than were a couple of young officers of the —th cavalry, stationed at Fort F. They attracted the attention of everyone who observed their good comradeship.

Lieut. Romaine was as handsome as a picture—a dashing soldier and a "lady-killer," it was asserted, though to his credit be it said, he was not spoiled and was not regarded as a man flirt.

Lieut. Belden possessed a fine form, a strikingly ugly face to those who did not take a second look at it, and was a perfect soldier—one whom his men would follow to the Devil if he expressed his determination of leading a storming party into his home.

Many called Lieut. Romaine by his Christian name, Hugh, yet no man dared address Lieut. Belden as Oscar. Women seemed afraid of him, and in fact he would shun a pretty girl quicker than he would half a dozen scalp-hunting redskins. Lieut. Belden had once said:

"I loved my mother, and she made me respect all women. A sister I never had, and I shall never marry, for I do not believe I will ever love."

His brother officers laughed and made all manner of prophecies about his soon being caught in Cupid's toils; but Lieut. Romaine said:

"It would surprise me if Belden ever married."

Those were hot days at the fort and constantly there occurred deeds of personal heroism that were most conspicuous, while the "Chum Lieutenants," as Romaine and Belden were called, came in for more than their share of daring acts.

One day F troop returned from a hard fight, with a lot of dead and wounded, one of the former being Lieut. Romaine.

It was said with enthusiasm that the troop would have been wiped out but for a rescue by Lieut. Belden and a few of his men, who took desperate chances, yet won the day.

Belden was himself badly wounded, but never gave up until the fort was reached.

It was a couple of months before he recovered, but he was but a wreck of his former self, so he was given a long leave to return to his home.

Some said that grief for his comrade's death had been as severe on him as his wound, but the body of Romaine had been sent east to be buried in the old family lot in Maryland, and Belden had made no comments when all had been told him.

He left the fort, and half a year later I was ordered to join Gen. Miles in the field, and so I almost forgot about the "Chum Lieutenants."

A year later I bore dispatches to Fort M, and there I met Capt. Oscar Belden.

"Awful glad to see you, Cody, for you are a link that bound me to dear old Fort F—; poor Romaine!" and his face and voice showed that he had not forgotten his friend; but he quickly added:

"Come to my quarters when you are at leisure, and meet my wife."

"You married, Capt. Belden?" I said.

"Yes, I fell in love with a ghost, and—but I'll tell you the story later."

And he did, and a weird one it was.

He had traveled for months before he regained his former good health, and at last decided to visit his friend's grave in Maryland.

He stopped at a tavern in the little village, near which was the home and burying ground of the Romaines for generations.

He had his supper, and strolled out into the moonlight to visit Hugh Romaine's grave, having been directed how to find the spot.

In a deep reverie as he walked, he had reached the little burying ground before he was aware, and then came suddenly to a halt as he drew in sight of a white-robed form kneeling by a grave.

He was startled, and he appeared to startle the weird figure, for it glided rapidly away.

At first the officer felt that it was an illusion of his fevered brain, and he approached the grave where it had been kneeling. The headstone, newly placed there, bore the name of Lieut. Hugh Romaine.

For days Belden remained at the tavern and he learned that the Romaine family were all away from home. Each night in the moonlight, he went to Hugh Romaine's grave, and each time he put to flight the ghost at his coming.

"I have solved it," he said to himself, and he added, without further explanation of the mystery:

"And I love that ghost."

The next evening he went earlier to the sacred spot, hid himself among some cedars and waited.

Soon after, in the twilight, two men appeared, and they, too, hid themselves in the foliage near the grave, while Lieut. Belden calmly awaited developments.

Later the "ghost" was seen approaching timidly, as though anxious to avoid being seen by any wandering mortal in the flesh that might be near.

Nearer the white-robed figure came, passed in through the iron gate that led into the brick-walled burying ground, and knelt by the side of Hugh Romaine's grave.

Then the two men appeared suddenly, and sprang upon the "ghost." A smothered shriek followed, and next upon the scene came Oscar Belden.

He was an athlete, a tremendously hard hitter, and in a moment he had two stunned men at his feet and a "ghost" that had swooned in his arms.

A man whom nothing rattled, he placed the white-robed form upon the bed of fresh flowers upon Romaine's grave, and with handkerchief and neck-scarf enforced by a revolver, quickly made the men prisoners, just as the "ghost" awoke to consciousness and the interesting situation.

The "ghost" explained. She was a young girl who lived in a fine old home half a mile away, and adjoining the Romaine estate.

The men were workmen upon her father's place, and their object was to force a large sum of money from her, under threat of making her secret known, for the secret was that the Elwoods, her family, and the Romaines had been bitter foes for generations, while she and Hugh Romaine had been lovers since childhood.

She dared not show her grief at his death, dared not visit his grave by day, and hence had played "ghost" to frighten off anyone who might see her carrying flowers nightly to the tomb of her lover.

The two workmen had known who she was, and hence their determination to profit by it.

Under promise of at once taking the trail out of the country, Lieut. Belden released them, then escorted the fair apparition home, called the next day, and—a year after she became his wife and accompanied him to Fort M, where I had the honor of meeting her, while Capt. Belden said:

"I loved her when she was a ghost, then for her devotion to poor Hugh and—afterwards for herself."