Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-05-23

hear nothing OF all This, Tor they are
surely here. "Helpl utlplr Wild. mad
cries hoarsely escape from my threat,
they rise aud spread in tho sonorous
nignt air. But there Is no answer. all IA
silent; only the crickets chirp without
ceasing. Thus | remain for long time.
the moon, with her great round face,
looking down upon me and my suffcrinus.
II be is only wounded--.be, lying over
there--he will DO aroused hy nov cries, Ia
II dead hodyf One Of oursi No. 4
Turk NV God, II IL should be the same
then sleep weighs upon my heaiad
eyes.
And yet cannot sleep. | feel the sun.
shine upon my eyellds, hut will uot
open them, the light stabs them like the
stroke OF poniArd. II is so much better
not 70 move at ALL
Nesterday--it seems 20 me Il was YES
terday-l was wounded; n Is now TWEEN.
ty.tour hours; tho time will soon pass
and shall be dead. AN the same, to lie
perfectly no,iouless Is better than NOV
Ing, What happensl II one could only
stop the brainl But how IN this possible
when thoughts aud memories crowd Into
my head?
s After all It cannot be long; the end viii
soon come; all that remains wlll te but a
lew lines IN the papers running thus,
"our loss very slight; so many wounded;
only one killed--a common soldier
named lvanor'--io, the maine will nor
even be given; they win simply say,
"oniY one Killed, a pfiyatein as II they
said "only n dog"
Suddenly picture bright aud clear
PUSHES TO my mind II seems long
time ago. somewhere In another life.
when ! was not lying here with wounded
feet; that lie which now seems SO far
away
l walked ON the streets, n group OF
people blocked the way, thoy were ST.
lenfly regarding something white all
stained with blood II was a poor little
dog run over by the omnibus. His legs
were broken; he WAS dying. A con.
cierge parted the crowd and seized and
carried him away.
Would some one carry me awayY No;
/ should lie here and die. And whyp Life
Is so sweet The day OF the accident To
the poor little Dig ! was happy; so happy
! walked like one IN oXlcatcd, and yet
knew not why. Oh, memory why do you
torment me sol The past Is goneg only
the present agonizlng pain remains
The heat increases; the sun hrOils |
open my eyes and see the same thlckets,
the same sky, only by the light OF day.
An, here Is my neighbor. Yes, Il Is a
turk a corpSei big, enormous Irecog.
niHe him. H. Is the same--heioro mo
lies the man killed--vhy did Iklll him?
He Is lying here dead; stained with
blood. Why have they brought him hereY
Who is hep Perhaps, like me, no has an
old mother who Will stand for hours az
the door of the hut, looking away TO the
far norlh--looklng for the son who VIII
never come, her only support and h. 10
AS for me, | would gladly change, even
with him How happy no lsl Ito Knows
nothing, feels neither pain nor thirst, nor
this deadly weariness--the bayonet went
straight TO his heart. see upon his uni.
form Il great black spot-~lt Is blood.
That Is whore | struck him. | did that,
and yet did not Wish to- | did not wish
evil to anyone, When ! went into battle
the thought never came iuto my head that
! would kill q man. thought only OF how
brSyely would march aud
expose my breast 10 the balls,
and did march and expose
my life. But my victim--the unfortunate
fellah- (he has on the Egyptian uniform)
what did he do2 He was even less
culpahle Before they embarked ON the
steamboat for Constantinople, huddled
together like behring's 10 cask, he had
never even heard Of Rnssle IT. be had
refused to 20 they would have given him
the bastinado, or perhaps have lodged n
bullet IN his brain. We made the attack
Tho only defended himself. Seeing we
were terrible people, who never re-.
coiled even before the guns of Peabody
or Martini, he took fright and would
have saved himself; but little man,
whom he could have Killed with one
stroke OF his hand, rushed upon him and
plunged bayonet 70 his heart. OF what
am guilty., who killed hlmp Oh,
how this thirst fortunes mel Thrst
| never knew the meaning OF
the word until now. on, II some.
one would only comet My God!
there Is the Turks great gourdl Surely,
there must be water In III | VIII get II
at any price--no matter what, | must
reach II. crnwl--my legs dragging, my
feeble arms scarcely dlsplacing my mo-
tioness body. II IL only four meters 10
the dead body, but for me II IL worse
than four miles All the same, must
60 My throat burns rs II flled with
IRE, without water. | shall die sooner,
but what does that NATTER ! still crawl,
my feet clinglng TO the ground and each
movement causing intolerablc paIp |
cry low, tearing cries, yet crawl ali the
same. AZ last | am there, by tbs gourd.
There Is water IN it--it II more than half
full. | shull have enough TO last me
long time, even unto death. Thou hast
saved me, my victimi try to detach
the g0urd hanging from his neck Sud- |
denly J lose my balance and fail
with my face on the breast
Of my savior. Already no exhalcs