New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-05-31

| any more. I'm going home" The quiet
words fired Brown like match to powder
He sprang up and flung away the pail he
if I'll 60 back to that hell"
Luce sat on the edge of the cart, and
looked down at his toes working in and
out of his shoes. Like enough he did not
see either just then; talking Of home made
baby of him.
! Are you coming, Luce?" Larcom asked.
And Luce looked up and answered.
| No"
That's right, Luce" Larcom said; "Im
longer Tell the boys l couldn't, Luce.
Take care of yourself GOod-by."
He gave q quick hard grip OF the hand,
| and Luce said
"Good-by, boys. l hope you'll get
| through"
! He turned his back and put down his
head, where he heard nothing but the
splash Of the water in the pail. 1t had run
| three or four times full before he got up,
and then there was no one in eight He
| filed the barrel alone. Then he sat down
and waited for some one to come. When
some Of the guard came running after
| a while and demanded where was his COM
| panions, and which way they had gone, he
| answered that he didn't know.
The feeling in the prison toward the two
| tugitives, when it was known that they had
broken parole and run, was no kind one.
| 1t was additional straw upon backs already
| bowed to breaking; it put tsunt into
| every look and word of their hated keepers,
and made more intolerable and hopeless
| the life of every man within the lOathed
walls, and removed further from each the
| light of the hope of escape.
A week or two after that the news was
| passed through the words one afternoon
| that Larcom had been brought back, and
was then in the hospital across the yard. A
| day or two later, DR.. Farmer came up into
Larcom's old ward on the third floor.
| Farmer was one Of the prisoners; being Q
doctor of skill and experience, and doctors
| being scarce, the commander had put him
| in charge of the hospital in the place. He
| sat down and beckoned to some of the men,
and they came round to hear what he had
to say, but without any quickness or eager
ness, and in stolid, silent, logged way
that had become the dismal habit of the
place.
Boys" the grave doctor began, perhaps
little graver than usual, 'you know who
we've got in the hospital now" Nobody
answered, and some OF them turned away
and muttered.
Look here, boys" he went on, I'm as
sick of this as you are; went to get away
as bad as any Of you. Storrs and l could
have had good deal of liberty, and gone
out and in about AZ we pleased these last
six months, if we'd given our word not to
run, but we wouldn't do it. l know how
you feel about this. He'll be back with
you IN few days; he's nearly starved to
death, and has cut on his head. He was
quite crazed when they brought him in, and
maybe he was little wrong before he
went. and thinking so much about his wife
and the little fellow he has never seen.
You mustn't be rough on him when he comes
up
Larcom came up one morning, and back
to his old bunk. They meant not to be I'M
friendly with him, and Dexter met him
and gave his hand and said
"Come in, old man. How d. do, Lark
We're glad you've come back"
The double meaning of the words was no
less evident for being unintentional, and
the welcome on the whole was not pleas
ant one. They meant to make allow ance
for him, but they were too low. They were
so close to the wall that they could not see
more than their own side, and not much OF
that He was CHASTITY to look at, his face
white, fallen ia, his eyes little wild yet,
his clothes hanging shapelessly over his
bones, and his head bound with cloth. He
crept away to his old bunk and lay there
most of the next three days. That crowded
room was more terribly lonely to him
three days he went and begged the officers
of the guard to put him in some other place,
and they had mercy on him and put him
below. And though it was far worse
place, and the old one was by no means
pleasant, he was thankful to creep away
and hide his head anywhere out of sight.
He had turned his hand against every man of
them, and every mans hand and heart was
against him, whether they smiled OF looked
black. He had thought his lot and theirs too
hard to be borne before; now he envied
them. The common sympathy and conf
dence in one another, of which he had never
thought before, seemed inestimable things
now, as he skunk away to his dungeon. His
was prison within prison. He kept apart
from all, was shut up within himself; in
that dreadful loneliness he devOured his
soul with brooding and yearnings that had
no escape in spoken words. He went back
to the hospital after while and brooded
there, and the doctors knew that he must
soon die or 20 mad.
One afternoon in October, short, thick,
sturdy little German woman came to the
gate of the prison, carrying year old child
in her arms She looked worn, and her
dress was soiled and ragged, and she walked
in her slow, fat, Dutch way, like one who
had come long distance. She asked, in
her broken English, if that was Finchley
military prison, and ii John Larcom was
there confined.
~ reckon he is" was the answer. you've
come to the right number"
And to her demand to see him the answer
was bluntly given that it was contrary to
rules and could by no means be done.
The guard was lank, straddling fellow,
and he ambled his six steps back and forth
across the gate with an attempt at a SOL
dlerly carriage.
II hat drafel nigh tousand mile the
woman said in her slow, stolid way. II hat
walk, unit NIT garry mein papy more as
tree hOOntret mile. He is mein mon. / must
to see him
ut amt no use, ma'am," the guard said.
Nobody gets in or out of here. Don't say
no more. Go along now, that's a good wo-
man." And the big sentinel straddled on
back and forth.
Katy looked after him minute or two,
and then sat down on a stone and waited.
She did not despair; that was her journeys
end; she never thought OF going back. As
she sat there, Trap came out He stopped
when he saw her, and quizzed the long
legged guard.
This your youngest, stapless Nice cub;
looks like you"
There was plainly no love lost on it's way
from Staples to Trap; the guard scOwled
and turned away his head, and marched
back and forth, forgetting to be awkward
in the dignity of scOrn. Trap turned to the
woman then, and she stood up and told
him the sane story. Trap seemed not to
notice what she said. much; he was bend
ing forward grinning to the child, and he
chucked him under the chin, and said:
"Chucky, chucky! Larcom's kid, hey
Bow WOW, gobble, goblet swapping his
jaws and grinding his teeth in mock fierce
ness. First young son Of Yank ever
see." And he leered close to the child, and
made hideous grimaces in his face. The