The National tribune., 1900-01-25

;" SAID THE SERGEANT.
read, in print and badly scrawied pen
| manShip:
STATE OF GEORGIA. Ise
COUNTY OF COWETA-
June the fst. 1854.
| To any Constable Of said COunty greeting
! You are hereby commanded TO proceed
| forthwith to the premises of ,JakOb Pan
cake and thar seize & distrain one fat hog
o- medium sized shotes, or his yearline
calf, or such other stock or property tha
will be full & coinpleat. Satisfaction fol
a Judgmint for dollars & Is cents. oh
tanned in this court agin Sed Pancake, by
| Solomon Dinky
Fail not on your peril.
SILAS SMOOTS,
Justice of the Peace
for Coweta County.
ST put the wallet in his pocket and fol
| lowed after Shorty down to the South Gate
Shorty pushed his way through the
crowd until he came to the opening in tbs
dead-line for the gate, and then glanced
around to see is there happened to be any
rebel officers present who looked able tt
read writing. He saw none, and stepped
boldly up to the sentry, a slender, long
| haired, round-shouldered man, who stood
| in the open space, guarding the wicket oil
the great gates, and with a confident all
showed him the writ. Impressed by his
| manner, the guard took the paper, scowled
! at it as if reading it through, and ha ded
| it back, with motion TO Shorty to pass
| the wicket
Shorty calmly walked through, before
| the envious eyes of the rest of the prisoners,
| as if doing the thing that he had an entire
| right to do. ST saw his success with a
| little Notwithstanding, for he thought he
had hidden good-by to his partner, who
would lose no time in making his way to
Sherman's lines. He walked back to his
squad wrestling with the temptation TO do
the same thing himself the next morning,
and leave the rest Of his boys to take care
of themselves. But he conquered this
wien he looked upon the fresh boyish
faces of his squad, turned upon him in
anxious inquiry, and realized how much
they depended upon him.
I'll have to stick to these boys through
thick and thin" lie decided for himself.
"Brt tomorrow morning I'll take another
o. them papers and try the same game.
If | git out. III surely came back. and
bring all | kin carry to make the boys
comfortable
The outer gates were open. and Shorty
walked unchecked out into the open space
lying between the fort. the hreaStworks,
the stockade, and the creek Rebel Off
GERS. soldiers, negroes, paroied prisoners,
tionS. at work. on business or duty. or
simply loating from one place to another.
Shorty Steadied himself to look and act as
they did. He even passed Capt. WirZ.
who scowled inquiringly at him, but Shorty
was too bold a dissembler to allow any dis
walked steadily on. while WirZ forgot
about him the next instant, in a fltme he
got into over something that the Reserves
were doing or not doing.
Beyond the fort Shorty turned to the
left. for that would bring him soonest to the
woods.
AS he drew near there came an irresisti-
BILE impulse to take to his heels and leave
the stockade and all its horrors far behind
him. 1t seemed as if the vile odor of the
place would stifie him if he went back
He struggled for awhile with himself
and then said firmly:
NO; I'll go back. I'd be a coward to
desert little Pete and ST and the boys
Petell die in there in week if l don't take
care of him"
Its all right" he unused more, cheer
fully. Il think Providence protects and
helps them what does their dooty. The
feller that tries to do right always ketches
the most trumps in the deal. It's my
dooty to go back in there to the boys, and
I'll do it if it takes my hair and toenails
believe Providencell stand by me if do. "
He was passing at the time a gang of
negroes engaged in telling timber to con-
struct another stockade around the original
one. Part of them had laid down their
axes to roll together some of the logs they
had cut. In an instant one of the axes
was up under Shorty's blouse.
"What'd | tell you about PrOvidence?'
he chuckled to himself, as he put as much
distance as he could between himself and
the gang before the loss should be dis
covered "Just the minute | made up my
mind to do the square thing Providence
gave me the tip to git the thing of all others
I've bin wonderin' where and how in the
world I'd git tell YOU, a feller'S cussed
fool that don't believe in an overrulin'
Providence. I'll bet on it every time, an
give odds"
left. 'let me give you little advice. Either
steal a shorter ak or wear longer blouse
The handle o that ones stickin' down a
foot"
Shorty looked in the direction of the
voice, and saw man in Union uniform
a prisoner On parole, detailed to do work
outside the. stockade.
Il saw you lift that az" he said, "and
you done it very neatly. Couldn't we done
it better myself But if you expect to git
back into the stockade with it you've got to
hide it lots bettern' that. They're mighty
partickler about letting axes git into the
stockade. You look like fresh fish. What
regiment do you belong to-"
"The devil you do? Why, that's in our
division. Bully boys they are. l belong
to the Kankakee Rangers. | was wounded
and taken last December, when Thomas
made that reconnaissance out to Rocky
Face Ridge. Let's set down in the shade
there and have t,.lk. I've got some
thing to eat which I'll divide with you"
shorty acc epted the invitation, and the