The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1894-08-11

i
not the messenger / am afraid of, after
! all. He is out the outward symptom,
!; Of the inward trouble. What you arel
seeing is an example Of the workings
Of conscience, where You thought con7
science was absent. The trouble with:
! me is that know the newspaper del
ponds on me, and that it will be the
! first time have failed. 1t is the news
paper mans instinct to be in the cen-
! ter of The fray. He yearns to scoop
| the opposition press. will get a
nights sleep If can, and tomorrow 4
know shall capitulate. will hunt,
out Gen. O'Neill and interview him on
the field of slaughter. will telegraph,
! columns will refurbish my military
! vocabulary and speak of deploying and
| massing and throwing out advances
guards and that sort of thing. will
move columns and advance brigades,
and invent strategy. We will have,
desperate fighting in the columns OF
! the Argus, whatever there is on the
fields Of Canada. But to man who
has seen real war this opera bouffe4
masquerade of fghting-I don't want
to say anything harsh, but to me it is
offensive
He looked up with a wan smile at HIS
partner sitting on the bottom of an up
turned pail as he said this Then he
reached for his hip-pocket and drew.
! out revolver. which he handed butt
| end forward to the professor, who, not
knowing his friend carried such an in,
strument, instinctively shrank from it.
toll This MI
! devastation and soak it with the pota-i
toes. If another messenger comes in
on me tonight know I shall riddle;
him if / have this handy. My better.
Judgment tells me he is innocent, and
I don't want to shed the only blood
that will be spilled during this awful!
campaign
How long they had been asleep they,
did not know, as the ghost stories have
it, but both were suddenly awakened
by commotion outside. It was in
tensely dark inside the tent, but as the
two sat up they noticed faint moving|
blur of light which made itself just
visible through the canvas.
"It's another of those fendish mes,
sengers,'' whispered Yates. 'Gimme!
CnaJ revolver.
"Hush!' said the other below hisl
breath. ''There's about a dozen men
out there, Judging by the footballs. II
heard them coming"
"Let's fire into the tent and be done
| with it," said a voice outside.
"No, no." cried another; mo man
shoot. 1t makes too much noise, and
there must be others about. Have yel
all got yer bayonets fxed?"
There was a murmur apparently In
the affirmative.
every we'll, then. Murphy and
O'Rourick, come round to this side.
You three stay where you are. Tim,'
| you go to that end; and, Doolin, come
with me-
"The Fenian army, by all the gods!''
| whispered Yates, cropping for his
clothes. "Renny, give me that revolv-'
er, and I'll show you more fun than a
funeral"
"No, no. They're at least three to
our one. We're in a trap here, and
helpless
''Oh, just let me jump out among 'ea
and begin the fireworks. Those 4
didn't shoot would die Of fright. Inn
agine scouts securing the woods with a
lantern! - with q lantern, Rennyl!
Think of that! Oh. this is pie! Let me
! at EN-
''Hush! Keep quiet! They'll hear
you.''
'"Tim, bring the Ian tern round to this
side" The blur of light moved along
the canvas. There's man with his;
back against the wall Of the tent. Just
touch him up with yer bayonet, Muir.
ply, and let him know we're here"
'sThere may be twenty in the tent,''
said Murphy, cautiously.
''Do what tell you," answered the
man in command.
Murphy progged his bayonet through,
the canvas, and sunk the deadly point
of the instrument into the bag of pota-
toes.
'sFaith, he sleeps sound" said MUIR
ply, with tremor of fear in his voice.,
as there was no demonstration on the
! part Of the bag.
The voice of Yates rang out from the
interior of the tent:
"What the old Harry do you fellows
think you're doing, anyhow? What's
the matter with you? What do you
want?" :.
There was moments silence, broken
only by nervous scuttling of feet and
the clicking of gun locks.
GLOW many are there of you in
there?" said the stern voice of the chief.
''Two, if you want to know, both un-
armed, and one ready to fight the lot
of you if you are anxious for a scrim-
mage"
'Come out one by one," was the next
command
We'll come out one by one," said
Yates, emerging in his shirtsleeves,
''but you can't expect us to keep it up
long, as there are only two Of u.s.
The professor next appeared, with
his coat on. The situation certainly
did not look inviting. The lantern on
the ground threw up a pallid glow on
the severe face of the commander, as
the footliphtS might illuminate the fiQ-