The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1889-02-23

10 move. Let my BODY remain
motfonless. How glad l would be il
. | We're able to arrest the function OF
my brain, but that cannot be
stopped. Thoughts end memories
are crowdisg into my head. But
TIFF viii not last long; the end is near.
In the newspaper the statement will
appear: ''Our loss il Insignificant.
So many wounded; killed. one volun.
teen ifonov." Nc, not even my
name will appear; the report will
Cad, zone killed"-merely one sol
der killed, like that little dog,
My imagination carries me back
TO day long gone by. | was walk
ing in the street; crowd was in my
way. The crowd was idly looking at
II white bleeding object, which was
[ whining pitifully. It was a beauti-
full little dog that had CHANGED to fall
under the wheels of a horse car.
1t was dying, like ], am
dying now. Somebody pushed him.
SELF through the crowd, seized it by
the neck and carried it away. The
crowd dispersed. Will somebody
carry me away? No; | am doomed
to lie here and die! o, how beautiful
is life. On that day which | saw the
dog ] was happy: l was drunk with
happiness, and l had reason for being
SO.
The sun burns. I open my eyes
and see the shrubs, the same sky, a.
lumined by the same sur, land THERE'S
my neighbor. Yes, it is a Turk, d
corpse. How big! l recognize him; it
is the same.
Before me lies a man killed by my
own hand. Why have I killed him?
Why has fate brought him hither?
Who is he? Maybe he, like myself,
has an aged mother. Years
after years she will sit at
the door of her poor hut and
look to the far North, awaiting the
return of her darling boy. And II /
also. I would gladly change places
with him, How happy is hel He
hears nothing, feels neither narrowing
pain deadly anxiety or unquencha-
BILE Thirst. The bayonet piercet fight
through his heart. There, on his
unifornJ Is d black hole; around it is
his blood. l did that.
| did not intend to do it; did not
want to do any harm to anybody
when went to fight, The thought
that / would have to kill men did
not enter my mind. | went with the
intention of bearing my breast out
to the bullets Of the enemy: went
and held it out.
And now, fooll fool! This fellah
Che wears an Egyptian uniformly is
less to be blamed than you. Before
the Egyptians were packed like her.
rings in the steamer that brought
them to Constantinople, he never
heard of Russia or Bulgaria. He was
bid to go, and he went. Had he re.
fused to comply, he would have been
numerically beaten and tortured,
and, perhaps, some mad pasha would
have emptied his revolver into him.
! He went along, and away from STAN
boul to Rustchuk. We attacked, he
defended himself. Seeing that we
! terrible men we're not afraid of his
Peabody and Martina patent car
bines, and are moving forward, he
became terrified when he wanted to
retreat. Some pigmy whom hecould
have killed with one stroke of his
dark fist came and pierced his heart
through. Was it any fault of his?
Was | wrong In kill.
ing him3 What is my
guilt2 Why does thirst torment me?
Thirst! Who knows the full meaning
of that word? Oh! would to heaven
some one may come.
In that bottle of his there must DO
some water; but | must get to him:
What pain it will cost me. Still l
will try.
] crawl. l drag my legs. My ex-
hausted hands can scarcely move my
body. The corpse is about fifteen
feet distant from me, but to me it lis
fifteen miles. | must crawl, though
my throat is infamed; it burns as if
on fire. continued crawling. Every
stir causes excruciating pain. l cry,
! wall, but continue crawling. At
last l reach him. Here is the bottle;
there is water in it, plenty of water,
more than halfa bottle; but suddenly
losing my equilibrium l fall with my
face on the bosom of my savior.
Iquenched my thirst. The water
though warm was fresh, and there
was plenty of it. remember having
read that a man can live without
food more than a week, if he has
only something to drink. If | live
five or six days what will become OF
me then? Ours went away, the Bulga-
rians fed. There is noroad near by. /
I'll die all the same, only instead of
three days agony may suffer a
week or more. Would it not be bet
ter to put an end to my misery at
once? Nearmy neighbor lies his guna.
fine English weapon. | can get it
easily, and in twinkling all will be
over Here and there can see some
cartridges. My neighbor did not use
them all. Shall | end or wait? Wait
what? Relief? Death? To wait
till the Turks come and strip off the
skin of my wounded feet? I'll rather
kill myself.
No, / must not get discouraged. I
will struggle to the last breath. II
/ be found, / shall be saved. Perhaps
the bones are not fractured-I may
be saved. / shall once more behold
my country, mother, Masha.
God, let them remain in ignorance
of the real truth. Let them think l
was killed outright. How will they
suffer if they come to know of my
prolonged agonies. My head is dir
~. My journey has completely ex-
hausted me. What an odor! He is
all black. What will become of him
tomorrow? l am compelled to be
here because 1 have no strength to
drag myself away. / will rest little,
and then return to my former place;
the wind blows from over there. l
die in utter prostration. The sun
scorches my face and hand. have
nothing to cover myself with. | wish
night would set in soon; it will be
the second of my misery. My
thoughts became confused and for