The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-12-24

G06lQ QOWn II We h2Q known.
at length, after an hour, we struck
barrel out of which slow thick stream
began to trickle. We couldn't think what
it was till we tasted it, and then we knew
it was molasses. We used little language
for a minute or two, but even molasses
was a treat, and we couldn't afford to de-
spise it. So we filled one canteen with
that and plugged the hole up as well as we
could, so as not to waste the stuff unnee-
essarily. I am afraid the plug wasn't
very good one, but we did the best we
could.
Then we went to work again. It was a
little discouraging, but we didn't propose
to give up We bored hole after hole It
seems to me we must have bored so or
more before we got through, and it took
some minutes for each one. Sometimes
we would go through the floor and hit
nothing, and sometimes, as I said, it
would be something solid.
At last we struck something that spout
ed like geyser, only it spouted downward.
was right under it and l was flooded in
minute. L scrambled out of the way as
quickly as possible, and we Investigated. 1t
was yeast. Well, yeast didn't seem to be
as near what we wanted as the molasses
was, but we didn't propose to lose any
tricks, SO we filed the other canteen with
that, after we had had good drink apiece.
1t was not quite equal to the best beer,
but it was sort Of substitute for it, and
we enjoyed it hugely.
We didn't succeed in plugging that up
as well as we did the molasses barrel,
though we did try. The yeast was too
much for US, and 1 am seriously afraid
that that whole barrel of yeast was spilled.
BY this time we had pretty we'll de-
SPARED of finding the whisky, but we kept
on trying awhile longer, until it seemed
as if we had riddled the floor so complete
~ that there was no place left above where
q barrel could stand. Finally we gave it
up and began to plan retreat.
The side of the hill in the rear of the
house was covered with a sort of ice for
nation that was 800 or 400 feet wide and
sloped downward at pretty steep angle.
We had surveyed this carefully before 60
ing in. and I said to Mason that if we
could make a rush over to where that ice
was we could get down the hill good deal
faster than any of the sentinels would care
to come after US, for all we had to do was
to jump on the ice and slide down. That
seemed to be about the best scheme we
could think of, SO we watched our chance
and made a rush.
We hadn't got to the edge of the hill,
and that was only few feet from the
storehouse, when we heard the sentries
cry, 'Who goes there?" 1t really WASH t
worth while for US to stop and answer
them under the circumstances, so we kept
right on. There were two or three shots
fred after US, but we did not get hit.
don't imagine the men on guard were very
anxious to kill US, for they must have I'M
derstood in an instant what we were about
and probably stopped long enough to re-
member that they would have liked the
chance to try the same thing.
60 Cbric%1,,ac hot
pot of soup, little sugar, little mo-
lasses and canteen of yeast. And think
perhaps we enjoyed the yeast more than
any of the other things. The-real Christ
mas festival did not come for some days
afterward, when our boxes arrived, and
remember that l had a glorious time, for
there was a big Yorkshire plum pudding
in my box and three pounds OF killikinick
tobacco, and the tobacco was perfect god
send.
But before that, ON the morning after
Christmas day. there was the very mis-
chief to pay in camp, and if Mason and I
had been found out, we would have been
in for severe punishment, for we had done
q great amount more of mischief than we
know anything about
It appeared that there was a politician
of some standing-I think he was an al
derman from Boston or somewhere-who
had been In camp Tor some days looking
for the remains of his brother, who had
been killed some time before, and he had
found them Christmas morning. The body
had been disinterred and put in hand
some coffin that the alderman had brought
from home, and the coffin had been put in
the storehOuse over night.
OF course We didn't know it was there.
Perhaps it might have made a difference
to Mason and me if we had known. I
don't know as 1 care about expressing an
opinion on such delicate question. At
all events we didn't know, and naturally
we couldn't be expected to bore holes
through the floor in as many places as we
did bore them without hitting the coffin,
and as matter of fact we had bored three
or four holes in it. 1t hadn't really spoiled
the coffin for actual service, but it had GER
tainly damaged it to some extent.
Well, the politician made a row, and the
commanding officer ordered a general
search of the camp, to see if any trace
could be found of the miscreants-mean-
ing Mason and me-who had been guilty
of the dissertation. 1t was pretty rigor-