Evening star., 1899-02-11

slowly leSsening cannonade seemed like
dream, and he hardly noticed when it had
ceased and re began to hear voices, cries
of wounded men all down the slope, and
other men talking up above. There was
clump of trees to the right and two or
three crows in the tree tops caWing fanil-
Iarly. An hour or two must have passed,
for the sun was down and the river mist
creeping up the slope. He lay on his back.
staring blankly at the pale sky and shiver-
ing little with the chill.
A group of men came down and stood on
the rocks above. They could probably see
up was nothing particular there. They
talked with a soft drawl. "Doggonedest
clean up | ever saw
They hadn't no business to come up
heah, yuh know They come some dis
tance how"
'Shuah, We amt huntin' rabbits. Whatd
yuh suppose?'
Then they went on.
The mist came up white and cold and
covered it all over He could not see the
wall any longer. though he could hear the
voices He turned on his face and crawled
along below the brambles and rocks to
where the ciump of trees stood with deep
hollow below them. They were chcs stnut
trees Some one was sitting in the hollow
with his back against the roots.
During the rush up the slopes and ter
races Dinkey Cott fairly enjoyed himself.
The sporting blood in him sang in his ears
an old song, that the leopard knows it
may be, waiting in the mottled shadow
that the rider knows on the race course,
the hunter in the snow; the song of a
craving that only excitement satisfies. The
smoke blew down the hill in his face. He
went down hollow and up the other side
fhen something hot and sudden came into
the middle of him, and he rolled back
against the roots of great tree.
Hully gee I'm plunkedr' he grumhled,
disgustedly
For the time he felt no pain, but his
IN ciny in h;
! thlng seemed to settle down around him
blank and dull and angry. He felt as if
| elther the army of the north or the army
OF the south had not treated him rightly
II they mad given him a minute more he
| might have clubbed something worth while
he sat up against a tree, wondered what
his chance was to pull through. Thought II
poor, and thought he would sell it for a
drink.
The firing dropped off little by little. and
| the mist was coming up. Dinkey began to
see sights His face and hands were hot.
ana things seemed to be riproaring inside
MIN generally. The mist was full of flick
ering lights, which presently seemed to be
| street lamps down the Bowery. The front
windows of Reillys saloon were giariny.
| and opposite was Gottstein's iewelry store
where II happened that he hit one Halligan
| IN the eye for saying Babby Reilly was
ms girl and not Dinkey's; and he
| bought Babby 90-cent gold ring
/ OF Gottstein,. which proved Halli-
SsifA " NC 1t liaF me cop saw him hit
{ Halligan. too, and said nothing being his
( friend And Halligan enlisted in Comoany
G with the rest of the boys and was keeIed
! over In the dark one night on picket duty.
| somewhere up country. All the gang went
| into Company G. The captain was one of
| the boys. and so was Pete Murphy the
| big lieutenant. He was sort of ward SUBJ
| boss was Pete
| Reilly, he's soured on me, Pete. / dun
/ no wot's got the OIL man"
| The lights seemed to grow thick till
| everything was ablaze
| Aw. come off, Dis amt de BoWery' he
| mnttered, and started and rubbed his eyes
| The mist was cold and white all around
| MIN. ghostly and still. except that there
| was a low, continued mutter of voices
| up from somewhere. And 1t seemed natural
| enough that ghost should come creeping
out of the ghostly mist. even that should
| creep near TO him and peer into his face a
| ghost with gray chin beard and haggard
/ eyes.
| I'm going down. it whispered. '.Come
| on. Don't make any noise
| "Hully geer" thought Dinkey. ITS the
popei'
number of things occurred to him in
confusion. The deacon did not see he was
hit. He said to himself:
Il amt no call to spoil is luck, If he Is
country
| re blinked moment, then nodded and
whispered hoarsely: Go on"
| The deacon crept away into the mist
| Dfnkey leaned back feebly and closed h.s
eyes.
wished I'd die quick It's rotten luck
| Wished could see Pete"
The deacon crept down about 200 yards