Abilene weekly reflector., 1901-06-13
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I "PALS."
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
BY c. E. WElGALL.

BY c. E. wEIGALL
by their fruits shall ye know them
'Vull to ourselves In every place COZ
dgned,
Our own felicity we make or flnd."
He lay on his bed-coat and looked {
khs stars through a chink In the roc
between window and canvas.
1t was q very hot night, Of tha
breathlen, lurid deadness that makes
Malta summer q WEAKNESS Of the flesf
IhHde bis tent thirteen sturdy soul
were snoring, under their brown blan
k6ts. the sleep Of the Just; but tn
fourteenth. Gunner Amherst, had bee
awake since Lights out" and slee
would probably not visit his eyes at al
until the little bugler sounded reveill
from the guard-room steps at Tlgn
tort.
He was thinking, and perhaps ther
was some excuse for the deep concen
tration necessary for such a purpose
Tor Amherst did not often indulge in al
lrt 90 purely imaginative.
The tramp Of the sentry up and dow
across the square on his eternal round
the sob Of the tide under the sheer cliff
the call Of a distant siren from a shll
In the grand harbor, were the onl,
sounds that broke the stiffness Of tn,
night.
In the daytime Gunner Amherst hat
no time for thought. Drills ant
fatigues. drinks in the canteen, crlcke
or football, as the same might allow;
bathing, further pint in the canteer
with a chum, and then Last Post" die
not leave much time In which a mar
might develop original traits or even a
habit Of thought, for In his set the
reading room was not the fashion,
His face was puckered into a frown
that marred the usual good temper ol
lts daredevil expression. He had
something on his mind, and that some
thing led him at last to rise from his
bed-cot and don the few clothes neces.
sary to decency, quietly tiptoeing at
last out Of the tent.
Keeping In the shadow Of the build
nss, away from e..shot 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 stubble and sand,
I'd barred his great chest to the cool
,ht wind Of heaven that blew from
he dread Slrocco quarter.
Lord" he said, 'I'm battlin' 1t cut,
but I don't come anlgh to the end OF It.
K Jem takes the stripes It's splits be-
tween him and me; there's too many
ali quarterns--or the end on EN-
lown agen me, to see me a bloomln'
bombardler. Now Jem II go mashln'
Ibout with N. G. O's, and mayn't look
It AZ 'ld pal, and as to speaking to me
friendly like, why, It's all down in the
Regulations as there's great gulf be-
tween them and the likes Of us, me in
particular, as one as as q many things
iown on my defaulter's sheet as
Ihouldnt be there. We've been friends
Iince the first day e joined-im an me
.ogether-rookies as didn't know a gun
rom pea-stick. 1t was always the
same afore we Joined. at 'ome In the
old place. II there was furrow to be
ploughed, Jem always took first prize,
lhough | might run the show pretty
nigh or piece to be sung at the har-
vest-home, or hollday-maklng, when
there was choice OF anyone to CO.
len was always CT sen. But was
never one to feel jealous like. Same as
when e went Off with my Ga Molly
Maloney-'oo could feel .salous Of
Jem?"
Amherst paused a moment and gazed
1t the sky crisped into points Of yellow
stars. The wash Of the sea had made
him melancholy, perhaps. as he was out
Df sorts. That one last glass OF beer
The night before In the canteen had
been too much for "0ld Devl-may-
,are," as his companions called him.
He leaned up against a gray rock boul-
Ter, and tore up tussock OF grass.
"A. N. G. 0. mayn't speak to an or
ilnary gunner when e pals with the
,ther lot O. sarjints and their belong
ngs. Don't know as | pants to do that
hough! II 1t was me. don't thing as
ow I'd ever chuck pal-and yet
here's a deal O pleasure In ben' look
ID up to-! Not as any one Ill ever look
lp to me-I'm a bit Of waster."
There was a suspicious moisture In
he eyes OF this "blt Of waster." He
vas not In the least a romantic figure.
Ills good-looking face had not the alert
Expression OF influencing power that
belongs 10 khe born commissioned
'fficer Of the British army. His cloth
ng, too, was unromantic, consisting OF
pair Of khaki trousers and a patched |
'est hung or anyhow, his feet thrust
nto broken canvas bathing shoes.
He was reused by quick step on |
he grass behind him, and started at
nee into the defiant life again. Tears
you'd be lasting disgrace II discover
d, and he became merely a motlonless
unner looking out with stiff Intentness
/ the far faint line Of the Slclllan
cast
"Davy! Whatever are you doing
ere?"
1t was the old name famillarly spok-
n. No one ever called him Davy now.
o his superlors he was simply a bad
1t. though a good all-round athlete /
nd to his companions, a fellow who
ould crack a good tale. and put away
lore beer than any other--a fellow, too,
those one stupendous folly was being
DO chummy with a man who was on
he roll for promotion, man who
wed the readlng-room, and who was
! the choir at the little Garrison Chap
!, and In high favor with the powers
lat be.
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