The National tribune., 1900-08-09

!
him. Because his father owned a coupi,
of niggers or so he naturally despised any
| body that had to work for a living, anC
especially greasy mechanic as ht
called them, meaning me- You'd thinl
that mechanics were made for him to wips
his feet on. When he found out was from
Indiana he was worse than ever. He
| hates Indiana worse n any other State
even observation-disclosures that the State
was settled by scalawags run out of the
South for hOrse-stealing and general or
neriness."
There's lots Of that kind of riff-rafl
there, remarked 81, "but they re all on his
side of the fence. They're as poison
against us as he is.
Hes always throwing up to me-" con.
tinued Radbone, how the Indianians run
at Buena Visty; says that all Indianians
are towards; a man that'd really fight
never lived in the State; all dominicks
there" g.
Huh" calculated Shorty. where's
he bin that he haint heard of the 200th
Injianny? I'd like to have u personal in.
teryiew with that gentleman"
What of all this?" asked 81, indiffer-
emily. PLENTY of fools talk that way"
May be they do" answered Radbone.
But haint heard 'eIn. This man l have.
And he's been meaner than rats bane
to me. He's been laying it into me hard
every chance that he got. l want him,
and I'm going to have him. I'll never
He'll come up again tomorrow and go back
the next day, and so every other day.
want to go down the road apiece behind
the rebel lines, to place I've picked out,
and lay for the train and him. l want
men enough to go along to stand off the
guards on the train, and let me settle with
Lieut.. Turley. III take care of him. if
l can have fair chance at him. After
l get him we can destroy the engine and
train, and burn the bridge, and skip back
TO our lines by n short cut that | know
and had calculated to take before this idea
of working through with you come into my
mind"
Great scheme" murmured 81. Iistless.
ly, land might be worked. We're too
fresh from the inside o the rebel lines to
have much hankering for that section,
however. Other places please US better"
Same here. l pass seconded Shorty.
Tom RadbOne saw that they were firm
in their decision, and went away discour-
aged. But he had sOwn seeds in fruit
full soil. There was a fascination about
such a scheme that 81 and Shorty could
not wholly resist, despite their condition
and their reasoning against it.
That's not a bad idee o the engi-
neer's," said Shorty, meditatively, as he
and 81 sat by little blaze. ltd be
big thing for a little squad to slip out
there n few miles, capture the train, and
burn it and the bridge. Wouldn't it just
make the rebs cavOrt and howl
YES" answered 81, showing more IA
yor to the scheme than he had evinced
to the engineer. "And it might be done.
But there's no use of our thinking of 1t.
We've had enough of that country down
there to last us some time"
That's so" agreed Shorty.
"There goes tattoo. Les turn in"
The next day was quiet and slumbrous.
The dull routine was beginning to CRATE
a little on their active minds. 1t was list
less and dull at headquarters; it was dull
in the camps; it was duller than all in
the hospital, filled with broken-down men,
who were merely trying to live through
no more. The Surgeon made his slow
rounds, looking at tongues, feeling pulses,
with his mind filled only with anxious
thoughts of nursing back to strength and
activity the exhausted vitality of those un-
der his care. Emaciated, tottering men
walked feebly, with the assistance of
canes, from the shade of one tree to an
other, and then sat down, 100 weak and
tired to even talk. In the camps there
was none of the old-time activity-the
cheers, the yells and laughter, the tire
less drilling, the chopping and digging, the
ambitious labor to Fix up the camp" and
make it surpass all others in neatness and
attractlyeneSS. Four months or the most
ncessant chopping, digging. marching.
fighting, moving by night and battling by
day, struggling everywhere, and all the
time with the rain and the mud, had
brought Sherman's men to the condition
when they felt that they could not get
enough of simply lying around in the
bright. crisp September air, doing abso-
lutcly nothing but eat and sleep.
~ wonder how fur it is out there where
that engineer wants to goy asked 81. as
he loled on his bed, and cast an estimat-
ing glance over the hills toward the south.
Now. 81, stop that" said Shorty, irri
tably. You know az well as | do that
we hain't no business thinking about such
a thing You mustn't be putting fool
idees into my head. Got enough of 'em
my own, already. I've bin trying all day
to keep from thinking what gorgeous
trick it'd be to just slip out there and lay
for that train, bust it and the engine all
to pieces, burn the bridge, and skip back |
at night We could"-
Now, Shorty, you STOP" shouted ST. 81
won't have it. It's our business to stay
right here in camp, quiet and peaceable, |
git well, and wait for whatever old Sher-
man may be cooking up for us. We've |
dragged ourselves and the boys through |
enough trouble in the last few weeks to