The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1897-07-23
For ten minute. Lambert exercised hi.

arts in vaiE effort to recapture 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 N tbs flank. He merely twitchcd
his scraggy hide. raised one instant the
uearmost hoof, but never lifted his
head. The brute was hungry from long
fasting. and did not mean to be dis
.urbed, 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 citizen in shirt sleeves and a
tangled head of hair, who, leaning out
Ct second-story window was neverthe-
less not 20 feet away. For a moment
each reg .rded the other without word
Then the native spoke:
what We tryi} to do?"
81 was trying 10 catch that mule"
"Want him FIR anythiLg?"
NO; only found him tangled in his
reins. and he got away after I loosed
Kim"
The native regarded tie newcomer
curiously. Lambert had slung his
blue cape over the hitching rail during
his brief pursuit of the ungrateful
Least and his neat-fitting suit of tweed
vas something new to Tugaloo eyes.
So was the jaunty drab derby.
you don't b'long roun' yere, do you?''
queried Tugaloo next.
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
yonder. out TO camp. Can you ::ugges.
any?"
"We-ell, you might walk. Don't reck-
on your trunk kin. though. Knew the
way?"
NO"
"Foller the track down thar a piece,
an you'll come to a path along the
branch. It'll take you right in 'mongst
the tents. faint more n few rawds."
THANK you, my friend. You're the
first live man I've found. I suppose L
can send in for my trunk?"
Reckon We can. They've gaw. 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 were Juggling at his heart
strings. Wasn't this just what his class
mates had prophesed would happen if
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 to
pieces in such n place." lie had heard
some one at headquarters say of Tuga-
loo, but he meant to out-1apley Mark
ifneed be, and nobody should know how
much he wished he hadn't been assigned
to this sort of duty and to this partic,I-
lar reg ment-certainly not his class
mates, and, above all, not the loving
mother at nome. 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. busting
shores of the Merrimac!
He had walked nearly a mile and had
seen no sign of camp or sentry, but on
sudden the path left the brushwood
beside the sluggish branch" rounded
a projecting knoll, and was lost in q
rough. red clay, country road. A fence,
with thick hedge CT wild-rose-bushes,
was to his left-leaves and roses long
since withered-and over the tops he
caught sight of the roof and upper
story of some old southern homestead,
at which he had better peep from
the gateway farther along. A path of
red brick led to the fight of steps,
broad and bordered by unpretcntious
balustrades. Dingy white columns
supported the roof of a wide piazza
Smoke was drifting from a battered
pipe projecting from the red brick
chimney at the north end, and the
morning air was family scented with a
most appetizing fragrance of broiling
ham. 1t made Lambert ravenous.
Somewhere around the next bend in
the road. beyond the northward extrem-
ity of the old fence, he could hear the
sound of voices and asplashing of water
fastening on, he found himself over
looking a level bench" surrounded
on three sides by deep bend of the
stream and partially separated from
the red roadway by a fringe of stunted
trees and thick. stubborn bushes; and
here, in an irregular square. Lambert
came face to face WITH the encampment
of the first company, outside of West
Point. it was ever his luck to Join. At
that particular moment he was lust
about ready to resolve it should be the
last.
On two sides of the square. facing
each other and perhaps 20 yards
apart, were the a. tents of the COM
pany, ten on side. At the flank farth-
est from the road and pitched SO as to
face the center of the Enclosure was a
wall tent, backed by one or two of the
smaller pattern. Nearest the road was
second wall tent, used, possibly, by
the guard-though no guards were Wis
lble-the white canvas cover of an army
wagon, and a few more scattered "a"
tents. Cookfires had been ablaze and
were now smouldering about the wae-
on. Several men in gray wooden shirts
were washing their faces at the stream;
others. in light-bluc overcoats, were
sauntering about the tents. some of
whose occupants. as could be easily
seen, were still asleep.
Standing at the edge of the winding
road. and thinking how easy a matter
1t would be to toss a hand-grenade into
the midst of the camp, Lambert paused
moment and studied the scene. Rest
ing on his sword, still in its chamois
case. with his cloak and satcheI