The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-05-13

stool, cheering Parker, who lay sus-
piciously quiet. Parker had come
from Queensland, via New Jersey,
among other cities, and the register
ed voters of Colesburg had shot him
across the spine below the shoulders.
MY stomach's trifie out of order"
said Parker cheerily. They cant
get it to work. Except for that l
don't feel there's anything wrong
with me-"
erich looked at me to signify it
would be better for Parker if he had
little more feeling. We're comm on
beautifully. amt we?" said erich, and
Parker nodded. TIN the last o four
all spinal cases-all in thist ent too!'
said Parker i've seen 'em all go. and
here am | hangin on by my finger
nails. They all went. didn't they?"
Eyes" said erich. his braces round his
hips, IAN they all called for me fore
they went. Member. Tommy"
Parker smiled. Sir Philip sydney
smiled very much in that fashion.
"Oh, yes. 1 was on special allowance
of brandy. but Tommy, he always
looked for little of mine in his LEM
SOuli SpCdh '"' ~
used to roll his eyes to my bed. Tom
my liked his tot o brandt and lem
onadc. When did he go. erich?
~ s'dav afternoon. Ioi was asleep,
Parker. He said. erich. old man,
where are you?' he said. Right here.
in front o YOU says. and | went up
to i'm. cause L knew what was COM
ing. Il can't see you. erich, he says.
Then | laid old of his arms in my
two lands. That's better he says.
If / can't see you | can feel you he
SAYS Don't let go, Crich,' he says,
and in a minute or two he was off.
as quiet as anything. oYu was asleep
Parker Oh! yes, they all asked for
old erich to tale old of when they
went off. Parker's goin' to best the lot
of EN-" This to me. Last o four
spinal eases. he is. and he's goin'
to Netley. an he'll be al, right in
few weeks. Ave some more tomatas.
parker?
The giant turned his head and rails
ed an arm He could not quite reach
the tomatoes. Critch stepped across
the tent. lavishly douched the cut
fruit with oil and vinegar and eNhib-
tied Parker in the act of eating.
Then Parker talked of real estate
speculations in Orange, y. j.. and
stock raising in Queensland, erich sup
plying an ever-appreciative chorus.
l watched the superbly built body, so
all alive to the chest line. SO all dead
below. and it seemed to me unfair
that nervous anxiety to make Cape
Colony a haven of peace had led a
neutral government to postpone
the ordinary preparations for war till
the Colesberg rebels tall registered
voters. remember) could conveniently
nangle Parker's spinal cord. lad
it upon erich. the hairy-chested and
adequate. that Parker must not
die. and erich. hopefully hopeless.
said. out of Parker's hearing. that he
would do his damnedest.
That was some weeks ago. | have
seen Parker twice or thrice. but to-
day his bed is empty. He has bested
the registered voter of Colesberg. all
the Young doctors who phophesied
death. and erich, which could noe see
any other way out of it,
He has gone home in steamer TO
Nettey. with the chance of living.
half dead for year or two. and the
ghost of a chance that he may par
TALLY recover This is load off my
mind For some absurd reason Par
ker was my war fetch. He held on
through the black days ere CrOnie's
surrender. and now. at Madeira. he
will learn that BloemfOntein is his
and ours.
The war goes better. With Parker
and Bobbsfontein disposed of we can
attend to the hospitals. Dinniss. the
light mustached sergeant major OF a
horse battery. has gone away. but
not before he saved the lives of three
or four depressed and morbid by his
cheerfulness and his yarns.
Dinniss has 6 and 20 years service.
He refused his majority II years ago
because it was in his beloved battery.
and he is an encyclopedia of military
knoUledge-the unofficial brand. |
heard him tell his tent confidentially
that if he had known what sort of a
silly sort of war this war was going
to turn out he would have retired on
his laurels early in October.
He caught something at Magersfon-
TEN which has kept him in bed for
few weeks. but now he is at the
front again. He was more on less in
charge of the horse battery which. out
of pure politeness. stood still to take
the Boer fire when our naval gun on
the left of the line did not see the
flag of truce, went on firing and
brought down a fresh Boer fusillade.
Said Dinniss: "Of course. we sat
tight. to show it was mistake. but
the shells were making our horses
skittish. so l said: Send a driver to
their heads. They're a little shy
looked round. and there wern't any
drivers! D'you know what they were
doing? Chasing rats round a bush.
Yiss! Rat hunting under fire. On my
worrud. | don't believe drivers have
souls. No. not one!"
Were they cockneys. by any
chance. Dinniss?" | asked
''Ye may say SO. We come from St.
Johns Wood. London. n.
The tent and the orderies grieved
when Dinniss left. for he had great
authority and most persuasive tact,
Now. Derby, of the Inniskilings. had
no authority. He lived on his tongue
and his skill in outflanking orderlirs
Derby got it badly in the leg and
dropped like a cockrobin in scarlet
flannel between the tents. He was
marked for Enplau and the dav he-