The Definitive Work of Reginald Barker: Decoding The Bugle Call

Billy, who is the little son of Captain Andrews, commandant of a western army post, has one ambition in life, and that is to become a good soldier. This he has confided to his friend, Sergeant Hogan, and the sergeant takes pains to foster the idea. He really needs all his courage to face a new situation that has come up in his life. His father is going to marry again. While he knows absolutely nothing about his prospective stepmother, he can conceive of no one worthy of taking the place of his beloved mother, who lies in the little cemetery outside the fort. In spite of Billy, however, the wedding takes place. The newcomer tries in every way to win over the little fellow, but beyond politeness his friendship stops. Soon after the wedding his father is called at the head of his regiment to quell an uprising of the Sioux Indians, forty miles away. He leaves his bride in little Billy's care. The distant trouble is but a ruse on the part of Lame Bear, the Indian chief, and now, with his picked braves, he swoops down on the weakened garrison at the fort. The defenders of the fort are so few in number that it is but a question of time before they must surrender. Billy, bearing in mind the admonition of his father to take care of his stepmother, takes her away from the fort by a secret passage and hides her in a cave in the hills. Suddenly he observes the wavering men at the stockade. Bethinking himself of his bugle and hoping to lead the Indians to believe that his father and the regiment are returning, he blows the signal to charge from a distant knoll outside the fort. The outcome of that bugle call saves the garrison and draws Billy and his stepmother together.