Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1874-04-15

ought to have been. Backward and
forward round and round, diving duck
ing, gasping and cursing, they both
went, until the game was brought to an
| end by the Chinaman becoming so ter
| rifed at the unearthly noise made by
his pursuer, whose imprecations grew
more and more hoarse and gutteral as
their utterer became more and more
| blown, that In panic he gave himself
up, and quietly submitted to the indig-
nifty of being held by his pigtail. -a-a
"Ah, yer thaving haste - exclaimed
Private Denis Magrath-such was the
sentry's, name-as the two stood pant
ing tSure I've got yer - Then feel
ing rather at loss to know what to do
with his prisoner of war now that he
had got him, he brought one of his hob
nailed ammunition boots into violent
contact with John Chinaman's person,
just by way Of not betraying any symp-
toms of indecision, and also of impress
ing his prisoner with proper sense of
his captor's power and his own help
lessness.
Notwithstanding that this proceeding
indicated certain amount of energy
and vigor of character, our Hibernian
friend exhibited signs of irresolution.
"Divil D bit of me knows what I've
been rrnnin' afther yer for !" he ex-
claimed "But, begorra y and here he
raised his voice to a high pitch, "now
I've got yer, I'll kape yer !" $50.
| With these words he gave the pigtail
heavy pull, just to show the China
man the tight hold he had of him,
when, horror the pigtail came off in
his hand, and it's late owner bounded
off like an arrow shot from bow. Pri-
vate Dennis Magrath stood aghast for
some moments, looking by turns at the
pigtail in his hand and the fast-reced-
ing form of the Chinaman, and with
each look opening his mouth wider and
wider, until he appeared as if about to
go through the unparalleled perform
ance of gradually turning himself in
side out. At last it closed with snap,
and then the following words were heard
to proceed from it "Holy frost! I've
pulled the tail out Nv UNI! Sure, I've
had enough runnin' we may go, and
the divil burn, We !' and upon this he
threw the tail in the direction the Chin
aman had taken, and resumed his walk.
The brass cock, after having been
ruthlessly torn from the bosom of its
water butt, had been thrust into the
breast of the Chinaman's jacket, where
| it had nestled until in the scuff1e it had
dropped to the ground, to lie for long
| time rnnoticed.
"Halloa p said the sentry, at last
catching sight of it and picking it up !;
"here's something til at thaving baste's
dropped. Sure it's brass cock he's
stole out Nv some bar'l.
| Then tlnge of melancholy shaded
his features, and soft light came into
his eyes as he soliloquized, with deep
pathos: Maybe thersh good liquor
! bein' washted somewheres, this very
moment, whilsht I'm shtanding here as
dhry as BONE "Maybe," he added,
in tone of almost passionate fervor,
''s somewhere quite close.
| The suspense of the moment was too
much to be long endured, and In order
! to settle his hopes and fears as soon as
possible, he subjected the brass cock to
an examination, in which nose and
mouth took part.
"Wather och, pooh % he exclaimed,
in tones of the deepest disgust. g Let
it washter' And here the brass cock
was very nearly being pitched con-
temptuously away, but on second
thou ght it was put into his pocket.
The next morning, after coming off
guard, Private Magrath betook himself
to his quondam master, one Lieut..
Thorner, who was also acting adjutant,
and to him he gave the brass cock, to-
gether with most elaborate and de-
tailed account of how it had come into
his possession, which, with all apollo
gies to Mr.. McGrath, we have taken the
liberty of reproducing in these pages.
'You should have taken it to the
sergeant of your guard. and he would
have entered the circumstances in his
report" said Lieutenant Thorner.
"However, put it down, and I'll see
| about it. .,e- ......-. r.. .. r.. ..-. ....
Now when man, with nothing par
ticular on hand at the moment, says
he'll "see about" thing, instead of
doing SO then and there, the odds are
very much in favor of his never troub-
ling his head in the matter This was
the case with Lieutenant Thorner He
dismissed the subject from his mind,
dIl GlIt DISSS COCh lay 1OI OdyS, 1u1c
and unheeded, on his table, until on
his being suddenly ordered away on de-
tachment, together with Private Ma
grath, to place we will call Choofow,
it was packed up with the rest Of that
young officers goods and chattels.
Here at Choofow it shone in quite a
new sphere. Lieutenant Thorner's
quarters we're somewhat bare of arti-
cles of vertu, and the brass cock, cleaned
of it's verdigris coat, occupied promi-
nent position as chimney-piece orna-
ment. It was not long, however, at
Choofow before her Britannia majesty's
consul at that port saw it, and, recol-
Letting that he had beer barrel in
want of such an article, begged it of
Lieutenant Thorner, who, having quite
forgotten it's previous history, present
ed it with all due ceremony, and it was
forthwith installed in the consuPs eel
lar som
In the mean time, stirring events had