Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1901-10-17
Kodaks and FiIms-A.E. .voorhie.
"PALS." ="
BY c. Z. Welgsll.
"DY THEIR fruits shall ye know
N than

"DY THEIR fruits shall ye know
d them.
"still TO ourselves in every place consigned
| Our own felicity We make or find"
He lay on his bed-cot and looked a
the stars through chink in the roo
between window and canvas.
1t was a very hot night, OF thai
breathless, lurid deadness that mhkeI
n Malta summer weariness Of tn,
flesh. Inside his tent 10 sturdy soul,
were snoring, under their brown
blankets, the sleep of the just; but
the fourteenth, Gunner Amherst, had
been awake since Lights out" and
sleep would probably not visit his eyes
at all until the little bugler sounded
reyeille from the guard-room steps at
Tigne fort.
He was thinking, and perhaps there
was some excuse for the deep concen-
tration necessary for such purpose,
for Amherst did not often indulge in
an art so purely imaginative.
The tramp OF the sentry up and
down across the square on his eternal
round, the sob OF the tide under the
sheer cliff, the call of distant siren
from ship in the grand harDor,
were the only sounds that broke the
stiffness Of the night.
In the daytime Gunner Amherst had
no time for thought. Drills and
fatigues, drinks in the canteen, crick-
ct or football. as the season might al
low; bathing, further pint in the
canteen with a clmm, and then Last
Post" did not leave much time in
which n man might develop original
traits or even habit Of thought, for in
his set the reading-rOom WAS not the
fashion.
His face was puckered into frown
that marred the usual good temper OF
its daredevil expression. He had
something on his mind, and that some
thing led hlm at last to rise from his
bed-cot, and don the few clothes neces-
sary 10 decency, quietly tiptoeing at
last out Of the tent.
Keeping in the shadow OF the
buildings, away from earshot OF the
sentry, he skirted the camp till he
came out beyond the gray walls OF the
fort above the sea. There he sat him
down among the short, sunburnt stub
BILE and sand, and barred his great chest
to the cool night wind Of heaven that
blew from the dread Sirocco quarter.
My" he said, "l'm battlin' 1t out,
but don't come anigh the end OF IT,
II Jcn takes the stripe, it's splits be-
tween him aud me; there's too many
'nlf ~ rtyrus-or the end ON EN-
down agcn me, to see me IA blOOmin'
Bombardier. Now, Jcmll 20 mushin'
about with y. c. O.'s, and mayn't look
at an old Pal, and rs to speaking to
me friendly Ike, why. lis all down
in the re sulat.uUs rs there's a great
gulf hc,wecn t.em and the likes OF
us, me in particular, as one as as
uany hin ~ down on my defAultcr's
sh-'' as shouldn't be there We've
l,'U friends since the first day e
joiItG-'m an me together rockies
as dil.'t know a gun from q pea stick.
1t was always the same afore we
joined, at 'ume in the old place. II
there was furrow to be plowed, Jem
always took first prize, though might
run the show pretty nigh; or piece
TO be sung at the haryes t-home. or
holiday making, when there was
choice Of anyone To go, Jem WAS al
ways chosen. hut was never one to
feel jealous like. Same AS when u
went OIL with my gal, Molly Maloney-
'oo could feel jealous OF Jem?"
Amherst paused moment and
ga1ed at the sky, crisped into points
ot yellow stars. The wash of the sea
had made him melancholy, perhaps, AS
he was out of sorts. That one last
glass of beer the night before in the
canteeu had been too much Tor "Old
Deyil-mayCare," as his companions
called him, lie leaned up against
grey rock bowlder, and tore up tus-
sock of grass
"a, y. c. q. mNyn't speak 10 or
dinnry gunner when ., nal, with tho
other lot ~ snriints ,ndtbair h,I,ns-
ings. Don't know As pants to do that
though II II was me, don't think as
',,, ia ,,.r ,hul nal onI 49,,
there's deal % pleasure in bein'
looked up tot Not AS auyonepl ever
look up 20 me Pm a bit nta waster."
There was A suspicious moisture In
the ewes of this "hit Of a y,aster." II,
was not I'm the least a romantic s,ur.
His rood-lorking face had NOT IN.
alert cxprc>,inn ~ innu,nciny n,,,,r
that b,lnpy, to IN, horn .n,u.c,r,,ni,
,iou, "A .nic,r,f m. pri,i,h arm, M.
,lothiug t,, was u,r,,,,n,i. ."a
si,tirrnf, r,ir ~ Lhnli -.
and , Matched v,,t hmm, nm -.
his f,,t ,hrr.t I'M, ~ 80 80
bathing shoes