The National tribune., 1897-09-23

L
mand as phlegmatically as he advanced.
If he cared straw whether he advanced
or retreated, if it mattered to the extent
of pinch of salt whether we whipped
the rebels or they defeated US, he kept
that feeling so deeply hidden in the
recesses of his sturdy bosom that no one
ever suspected it.
| In the excitement of action the rest
Of the boys shouted, and swore, and ex-
pressed their tense feelings in various
ways, but Marriott might as well have
been a craven image, for all the ex-
preston that he suffered to escape.
Doubtless, if the Captain had ordered
him to shoot one of the company through
the heart, he would have executed the
command according to the manual of
arms, brought his carbine to "recover, .
and at the word marched back to his
quarters without an inquiry as to the
cause of the proceedings.
! He made no friends, and though his
surliness repelled us, he made few enc
mics. Indeed, he was rather favorite,
since he was a genuine character his
gru!iness had no taint of selfish greed
in it; he minded his own business strict
ly, and wanted others to do the same.
When he first came into the company,
it is true, he gained the enmity of
nearly every body in it, but an incident
occurred which turned the tide in his
| favor.
Some annoying little depredations had
been practiced on the boys, and it needed
but word Of suspicion to inname all
their minds against the surly English
man as the unknown perpetrator. The
feeling intensified, until about half Of
the company were in a mood to kill the
Bugler outright. As we were returning
from stable duty one evening, some little
occurrence famed the smoldering anger
into fierce blaze; couple of the
smaller boys began an attack upon him;
others hastened to their assistance, and
soon half the company were engaged in
the assault.
He succeeded in disengaging himself
from his assailants, and, squaring him.
self off, said, defiantly: "Dom yer
cowardly heyes; jest come hat me one
at time, hand Hill wollop the ole
gang NV yes"
One of our Sergeants STYLED himself
proudly ga Chicago rough" and was as
vain of his pugilistic abilities as small
boy is of a father who plays in the band.
We all hated him cordially-even more
than we did Marriott. He thought this
was good time to show off, and fore
ing his way through the crowd, he said,
vauntingly:
Just fall back and form ring, boys,
and see me polish him of.
The ring was formed, with the Bugler
and the Sergeant in the center. Though
the latter was the younger and stronger,
the first round showed him that it would
have profted him much more to have
let Marriott's challenge pass unheeded.
As rule, it is as we'll to ignore all in
vitations of this kind from Englishmen,
and especially from those who, like
Marriott, have served a term in the
army, for they are likely to be SO handy
with their fists as to make the conse-
guences of an acceptance more lively
than desirable.
So the Sergeant found. Marriott"
as one of the spectators expressed it,
,r-opf orn,pI i,i,,, 1il.o N
a barrel" He planted his blows just
where he wished, to the intense delight
of the boys, who yelled enthusiastically
whenever he got in "a hot one" and
their delight at seeing the Sergeant
drubbed SO thoroughly and artistically,
worked an entire revolution in his favor.
Thenceforward we viewed his eccen-
tricities with lenient eyes, and became
rather proud Of his bulldog stolidity
and surliness. The whole battalion soon
came to share this feeling, and everybody
enjoyed hearing his deep-toned growl,
which mischievous boys would incite by
some petty annoyances deliberately de-
signed for that purpose | will men,
ton, incidentally, that after his encounter
with the Sergeant no one ever again vol
unteered to "polish" " him off.
Andersonville did not improve either
his temper or his communicativeness.
He seemed to want to get as far away
from the rest of us as possible, and took
up his quarters in remote corner of the
Stockade among utter strangers. Those
of US who wandered up in his neighbor-
hood occasionally, to see how he was
getting along, were received with such
scant courtesy, that we did not hasten to
repeat the visit.
At length, after none of us had seen
him for weeks, we thought that comrade-
ship demanded another visit. We found
him in the last stages of disease. Chunks
of uneaten cofnbread lay by his head.
They were at least week old. The
rations since then had evidently been
stolen from the helpless man by those
around him. Some Good Samaritan
had filled his little black oyster-can with
water, and placed it within his reach.
For week, at least, he had not been
able to rise from the ground; he could
barely reach for tho ,otor roor H.;