Savannah morning news., 1886-05-23

have become 80 feeble that | cannot even
drag myself away from the terrible body.
soon we shall be alike; then we snail
trouble each other no more.
drink now only three times a day,
morning, noon and night. The sun is rls-
ing; his great disk, cut and divided by the
branches of the thlcket, is as red as blood
the day Will be very hot. NeighDor,
what Will become OF you? You are al
ready horri BILE. Yes, he is h0rrlbte! His
hair is beginning to fall out, his naturally
black skin has become pale and yellow;
his face puffed and distended TO such an
extent that the skin Is bursting behind
the ears, and worms are crawling there;
his feet are so tightly swollen in his shoes
that great blisters appear between the
fastenings; be is puffed up like noun
| tain. Wnat will become of him IN t0-day's
sun?
To lie so near him is insuppOrtable. l
must get away, cost what il may; but can
/? | can scarcely raise my hand to open
the gourd when | drink; then how move
ray heavy, motioule So body? All the
same, | will try; and go, little by little,
not more than half step an hour. All
the morning is consumed in this effort.
The pain is horrible, but it does not mat
| ter to me now; | cannot even recall the
feelings of well mau; L could almost
| say had become accustomed to the pain.
! During the morning | have dragged my
/ self only the length Of four metres, back
TO my old place, but the air is no purer, as
! If any one could have pure air within six
| feet of a decompOsing corpse! Every
time the wind changes it brings me anew
! the horrible odOr--sO strong that 1t nau-
seates me. My empty stomach contracts
] painfully; sickening shudders wrench
my whole body. aud still the wind brings
4 that pestilential air. In despair lie there,
weeping bitterly.
/ Heavy and stupid like one drunk, re-
/ main almost unconscious. SuddeGly-lt
may be the delusion Of disOrdered brain
Il hear voices, the tranping of horses
and human beings. | start up with
cry, but restrain myself; it may be the
! Turks. The very idea makes the hair
stand upon my head. ! think OF nothing
! but what the papers said. that they would
tear the skin from my flesh and roast my
wounded feet. Still, perhaps it is better
TO end life by their hands than TO die here
like dog! Maybe it is our men! Ac-
cursed bushes, why do you surround me
! ing beyond? Only one spot is open. some
thing like window, and it gives me
view of the distant ravine. There, it
seems to me, is the little river where we
drank before the battlel Yes, there is the
| great table of sandstone, stretching
across like bridget is there they will
! surely pass. The voices cease; cannot
distinguish the language; my hearing is
feeble, like all the rest. Sud
denly there appeared at the crossing of
/ the river some COssacks, with glitterng
/ lauces, and blue and red uniforms, in all
| about half hundred. At their head rides
an officer with a long black beard.
"Halt! HALT! For the love of God,
help! help! my brothers."
But the tTampling OF the horses, the
clash of the sabTes, the lively talk of the
men overpower my piteous call; they do
not hear me.
Oh! curses on nv weakened state. ]
| fall headlong to the ground, groaDing in
agony. Tears gush from my eyes. From
! the gOurd, which | have overturned in
my fall, pOurs the water, my life, my safe
| ty, my only hope. Scarcely half a glass
remains, the rest has soaked into the dry
and greedy earth.
After this terrible accident a torpor
seems to fall upon me; lie motionless,
with half closed eyes. The wind, always
! changing, sometimes brings me breath OF
pure air, then again waves of stencil. My
neighbor to-day has become terrible be-
yond description. Iopened my eyes and
looked at him only once; he had no lon
ger face; the flesh had fallen from the
! bones. Although had often held human
/
them, this skeleton in uniform, with but
! tons of shining metal, made me shudder.
| IL is Warei thought; there lies its image.
The sun brOils me as before; my hands
and face are on fire. The little water that
Is left is gone; my thirst tortured me and
meant to take but one little draught; sud
denly swallowed il all at a gulp.
! Again / see the little white dog; the
concierge knocks his head against the
wall and throws him into a ditch OF dirty
water. He is not dead, but lives and suf-
| fers all day. | am more miserable than
he, for | have suffered three days. to-mOT-
row will be the fourth, then the NTH. the
sixth-Oh, Death, where art thou? Why
dOst thou not come and take me?
But Death cones not. l still lie under
the burning sun, and not a drop of water
| to cool my parched tongue. And the
! putrid body-it has fallen into liquides.
cence: myriads of worms are crawling
! from it. When they have eaten him-all
but the bones and the uniform-then will
come my turn. Shall look as he Gid?
The day and the night pass-the morn
| ing cOmes-always the same thing. An
other day begins; the bushes shiyer and
rustic as If talking 10 each other:
"rhOu wilt die-tbOugh wilt die-th0u
wilt die" they whisper. "We VIII see
we will see-we will see" answer the
thickets.
All at once a loud I'VE will see" comes
in ringing voice close beside me- sud
denly come to myself. From behind the
bushes. looking straight down upon me,
are two great blue eyes; they are the
good blue eyes Of Lieut.. Jakorlef, one OF
]