Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1889-09-19

his bed on the floor. shook himself.
rubbed his eyes. looked round and
grinned at us.
s.Well. fellersr' says he, 1--WE amt
drownded. be we?''
mot as we're sensible Of" says
Chaplin, a dry sort OF chap in the bunk
below me.
You took it rather COOL" says to
Joe.
Names Cooley" says he. laughin'.
And after that we called him ''Cool. !"
or ..Old Cool" just as it happened.
We got to land after awhile, as dirty
and water-tired lot as ever you see;
quite certain that solderin' wasn't
neither fun nor play; but bless you!
we hadn't but just said A There was
the hull alphabet to come.
There was one Colonel had regi-
ment in camp along of US who was the
greatest hand to nag the men you ever
see. He was as pernickity as an old
maid. and as notional as an old bach
elor. He KEEP the men up to drill as
though twas salvation. an inspected
them within an inch of their lives. and
called that discipline; and p'rhaps it
was.
But he done worse. he KEEP settin'
He'd travel outside of the videttes and
pickets SOS to see if they was awake
and alert; and if they wasn't then they
had to take it.
There we was, q parcel of volunteers,
doing nothing but drill, in new, lazy,
sloppy kind of climate, with nothing
but meat victuals and hard bread
tell We we pinned after onions and sech
truck worse'n them old Isr'elites in
the hymn-book did!
well remember how one day Char
ley Bliss was roarin' out that old hymn
1.-The way is all new, as it opens to view,
An behind is the foamin Red Sea,
So none now need to speak of the onions and
1eeks,
And don't talk about garlic to me-"
Chaplin stepped up, as solemn as a
clam. and threatened to punch his
head.
''Stop that blarsted tuner says he.
''rm nigh about ready to fine the
Confederacy for head o. cabbage. and
I can't bear to hear onions made light
Of"
Well, as way sayin', we were new
to the business. and to be spied on and
roared at and ketched nappin' made us
all pretty snappish. and Cool himself,
who was ordinarily as clever as could
be, Was stirred up.
"I'll fix himr says he one night,
when we was talking it over by the
fire. ''Wait till my turn comes"
Sure enough, the next night he was
on vidette duty, and he heerd a noise
in the bushes. Up went his musket-
''Who goes thereP" he roared.
''Omcer of the day." says the Col
onel.
II know no officer of the day
outside the lines; throw up your hands.
dismount and surrenderr' yelled Cool.
II tell you I'm officer of the day"
says the Colonel, madder'n a yeller
hornet.
II know no officer of the day outside
the lines; dismount or fire." repeated
Cool. Well. the Colonel r'ared and
sputtered. but Cool never lowered his
gun. and finally the Colonel had to dis
mount and come along towards Cool.
II tell you. you blockhead. I'm Col
onel Blank, officer of the day."
Cool cooked his gun and leveled it at
the feller's head, sayin' agin:
81 know no officer of the day out
side the lines; give up your side-arms
or I shall shoot you through the
head"
Well, the Colonel RELY b'lieved
Cool didn't reco'nize him, so he handed
over his side-arms, and Cool marched
him in clear through the camp tc
headquarters, an handed him over tc
the General.
tell you Mister Blank got charge
O. cold shot in the line o. tongue-lash.
in that time. for the General was full
O. steel; but Cool got promoted 70,
bravery.
When we got to Port Hudson, one
night before the battle we was lynn
round on the ground. and Cool he wa.
stretched out on his back, sort of tilted
up against little stump, fast asleep
lay about twenty feet of. and we hai
d urc gun 80 COuiu Bee uIm ~ LII
there like big log, mouth wide opel
and big feet turned toes up jest a.
though the want nothin' goin' on.
Pretty soon I heard ''z-zip!' and /;
mimic bullet just took off the toe o
one of those great army shoes, AM
then buried itself in the stump clos
to his ear; just shaved it! He rix up
little.
whats goin' on?" says he.
Why" says I. there's some bullet
a-f1yin' round hero and one nigh abou
shot off your ear. You'll find it il
that stump"
He looked round, as quiet as Sun
day.
well. I'll get leetle out o. thei
way" says he, and with that ROLES
over about q foot to the left. shut hi
eyes, and was snorin' inside of tire
minutes.
After the battle was over we had
stay on the field pretty much all night
When we begun to fall back mex
morning there wasn't any way to &c
to camp but through q ravine MAT tn
enemy's guns ralked-and they KEEP
rakin' of US into another world prett,,