Daily camera., 1897-01-15
CAPTAIN CHARhE@ KING -
rcopyneht 1904, by J. B. LppIncon Compsny.l

parently asttr. A street IL ar~av north
ward at right angles to tf!r Tc'a.,' front
Of the square, and stra"g' :" horses
lined it at intervals on eithc, de- One
OF these. with belfry, at thn corner Of
the plazp, seemed to be a meeting house
OF some kind, possibly the pro tcnpore
substitute for the county courthouse,
thought Lambert for the center of the
squarc r'as still heaped with charred
and Nlac' ned heal.,s and bricks where
once the ccurth ouse stood.
As for the camp or quarters OF his
future comrades and as iociates, Lam
bert cohld see nothing that in the least
lcserl blrd a military station. and, do
chat he could, the boy found it impos'
sible to down the family heartsick,
Eomesick feeling that speedily took pos
session of him. A dog wcu!d have been
welcome as companion, but there was
rot even stray dog. For moment
Lambert thought of arousing the negro,
but after one glance at the wide, red
cavern Of his mouth and the emptied
flask lying close to the frowzy head, he
decided IN favor of the mule.
A short walk brought him to the side
oi the PROSTATE creature. and long
pull induced his muleship to stagger to
his feet, but in his struggles he snapped
the old headstall. and the remnant of
the bit and bride dropped into the dust.
1t was not until the vagrant stood erect
hat Lambert discovered fro.. the U.
:. brand that he was. or had been. gov
ernment property. The saddle, too,
turned out to be one of the old-fash-
ioned, black-skirted, pigskin McClel-
lans, so familiar during the war days.
AS the mule seemed only Lalf awake and
unaware as yet of his freedom Lambert
first essayed to reset the SADDLE, towhith
he submitted without objection. and
then to replace the bride, to which he
would not submit at all, but with low
cred front and menacing hoof TUNED
him about and logged over to where
some wisps of hay lay scattered in
front of shanty labeled Post Office"
For ten minutes Lambert exercised his
arts in vain effort to Tcca. ture that
mule, and then, in sheer disgust, threw
the bride on the sidewalk, picked up an
abandoned half brick, and let the mule
Rave it IN the flank. He merely twitchcd
his scraggy hide, raised one instant the
nearmo5t hoof, but never lifted his
bead. The brute was hungry from long
fasting and did not mean, to be dis
turbed, and Lambert, who had eaten
nothing since the previous day, was
presently in full sympathy. Once more
he looked around in search of some
human being, and found himself con
fronting a citizen in shirt sleeves ard a
tangled head of hair who, leaning out
Cf a second-story window was neverthe-
less not 20 feet away. For a moment
each reg srded the other without word
Then the native spoke:
what ye tryin' to do?''
81 was trying to catch that mule"
"Want him fr anything?"
"No; only found him tangled in his
reins, and he got away after | loosed
him.
The native regarded. the newcomer
curiously. Lambert had slung his
blue cape over the hitching rail during
his brief pursuit of the ungrateful
least and his neat-fttinr suit of tweed
was something new to Tugaloo eyes.
So was the jaunty drab derby.
"You don't b'long roun' yere, do you?'
queried Iugaloo neNu.
81 don't: and the Lord knows | don't
want to: and I'd be glad to find some
way of getting myself and my trunk
wonder, out to camp. Can you sugges,
, any?"
"We-ell, you might walk. Don't recl1-
on your trunk kin, though. Know the
| way?"
'No."
"Foller the track down thar piece.
an you'll come to path along the
branch It'll take you right in 'mongSt
the tents. 'Tain't more n few rawds.'"
''Thank you, my friend You're the
first live man I've found. | suppose
can send in for my trunk?"
"Reckon We can. They've gawt mules
an wagons enough"
| Lambert gathered up his belongings
and trudged away. He did not mean
to yield to the feeling of depression that
was struggling to possess him, yet the
! blue devils We're tugging at his heart
strings. Wasn't this just what his class.
mates had prophesied would happen il
he went into the infantry? Could any
service be much more joyless, unevent
full, forlorn, than this promised to be :?
'Mark Tapley himself would go t.
pieces in such a place." he had heard
! some one at headquarters say of Tuga-
| loo, but he meant to out-1apley Mark
'fif need be, and nobody should know how
much he wished he hadn't been assigned
to this sort of duty and to this particu-
lar egiment-certainly not his class
mates, and, above all. not the loving
mother at home. Heavens! how unlike
was this bleared, wasted, desolate land
to the sweet and smiling New England
| vale where his boyhood had been spent.
to the thickly-settled, thrifty, bustling
shores of the Merrimac!
| He had walked nearly a mile and had