The National tribune., 1900-02-08

any brains he's robber and a thief beside
Old WirZ would starve a man to death for
SO Confed, which aint worth more'n six
bits in our money, and all the rest are like
him. / don't understand why they rained
down fire and birthstone on them COM
paratiyely respectable people in Sodom and
Gomorrah, and yet let this nest OF vipers
live and breed"
A study of the guard at the wicket giving
hopeful promise OF the desired illiteracy,
Shorty repeated his performance of the day
before, with the writs as passes, leaving
Sandy Baker to keep house, while the
others went out, one by one.
The scheme worked as well as it did the
day before, they made good progress in
gathering materials, Shorty placate.
up their loads and started back for the
South Gate
With Shorty at the head, they had
marched in procession around the big fort
and were near the South Gate when ILL
luck brought Capt. Wirz down the hill,
directly in front of them.
Halt, dere,' he commanded with a Snarl
as he gazed at the line. Put dose tings
town unit answer me some qvestions.. How
dit all you tam Yankees ket oud here?"
I've run up agin about the toughest deal
| ever struck, imagine" said Shorty to
himself. This is the head devil himself
It calls for my finest, 24-karat lynn"
poker-piayer he was if he had not acquired
full control OF his face. He set down his
burden, looked calmly at the scowling little
Captain, and answered:
We came out on passes"
Dots a pig lie," stormed Wirz. "You
pribed some off dem tampt quarts to led YOU
oud, tint you?"
For an instant Shorty thought that it
might be the best way to give that sort of an
explanation, and let the Captain wreak his
vengeance on the guards. 1t would be fun
to see the rascals severely punished But
then he decided that it would be polite to
stick to the original story, for he did not
want to get the special ill-will of any of the
Reserves, who might even up things by
him or others of the squad. He
therefore answered:
NO. sir; we came out on passes"
de tefl you dit, snorted Wirz. where
dit you ket de basses?"
Capt. WirZ give them to u.s." answered
Shorty calmly, while ST and thesrest Shud-
dered at his impudence.
Capt Wirz promptly threw fit, char
acterized by storm of curses, much facial
and threatening brandishing
of his preposterously large revolver.
mine face. You say dot l gif you basses,
you Internal scountrels." ne screamed Il
shood you. | plowo your tamt headts off.
Dit gif you basSes?"
Il didn't say you gave us passes,' an
swered the unmoved Shorty. Il said that
Capt. WirZ gave them to u.s."
Tam id. 1 am Capt. Wirz. Ton't you
know me?"
Cant say that do" answered Shorty
Il haint many acquaintances in the lunatic
asylum"
Shut up your head, you Yankee pig
Do YOU say gif you de basses?"
No, didn't say nothin' of the kind. |
nd that Cant WIrZ a who said he
was Capt. Wirz, gave us the passes. He
was inside lookin' around, and | told him |
that We hadn't anything to build house |
with, and he said he was sorry, and that he
would let us go out and get stuff. So he
wrote the passes, and we came out on them. |
No; he didn't look like you. He was very
man."
I'll yell-favor you, you pigs. Brobably |
some off dem tamt Reserfe officers haf peen |
doing dis. Dey are alfays meddling where |
ley haf no pizness. Show me your bass. |
But I'll vindt oud who id iss, and make him |
chump. Show me your bass"
1t required nerve to carry out the farce by |
showing the writ, as pass, but Shorty had |
L, and produced the paper with the air of |
confident innocence.
Upon reading the writ, Capt. Wirz i'm
threw another fit, so much more
violent than the first, that Shorty began to
nope that he would burst bloodvessel and |
lie. But he never changed his look of
blank, stupid amazement that the rebel
,fficer should act so strangely at the sight |
If the paper.
WirZ'S rage was mostly directed at the
stupidity of the Reserves, who could not /
cad. and thus distinguish genuine pass,
md he included the officers who would put
such iknorant pigs" at the gates. He de-
handed and received the other passes,
soing of into a fresh paroxysm as he dis
oyered that each one was the same kind of
fraud
Who gate You dis baper?" he fiercely de-
handed of ST Dell me de troot, or | plow
our head off, |,
Capt Wirz," answered ST, with gulp at
he lie, which Wirz fortunately mistook for
sign of fear of his revolver II
"Ton't you know id ain'd bass? Cont
'ou read?"
No, / can't read writin'," answered ST
Tith another gulp.
The rest answered the same way
You're all tamt liars" said WirZ, ex-
austed with his rage, and stepping off
title distance and looking at them with his {
evOlver in hand. "All Yankees are liars
)ere's no troot in dem, and you are de worst
II de lot iought to kill efery yun of youS
'ut Won't waste powder unit leadt on you
lou'll die anyway. Here, Sarchent, puck {
Int-gag efery vun off desc scountrels, unit
eep dem so till | dell you to led dem ko
Jake deir stuff afay vrom dem, unit gif it to
e quarts" J.
The Sergeant was at hand with strong
quad of eight or 10 men. There was no
Se of resisting.
Sergeant" WHISPERED Shorty to him. as I