The National tribune., 1901-09-26

The round, orange sun was just gliding
the tops of the bamboos at Salacat as
Jolly Lucas passed down the road from
the nipa hut in which he had been quarter
ed for the night towards the company
kitchen, where half a hundred men were
already shifting the savOry odors of coffee
and frying bacon. His toilet, which had
been somewhat incomplete at reyeille roll
call, was now finished, and from beneath
his campaign hat water trickled frGm his
shining hair down the back of his neck.
His bronzed face bristled with a stubby
growth of whiskers, but was radiant with
good humOr. His blue flannel shirt was
open at the neck and the sleeves were
rolled up to the elbows, revealing muScu-
lar arms well tanned by exposure to the
tropical sun. His brown canvas trousers
were dirty and torn, his leggings scarcely
hung together, and his shoes showed
symptoms of early dissolution yet his
need of heavy entries against his clothing
account did not worry him in the least,
and as he walked jauntily along, beating
time upon his meat-ration can with his tin
cup, he rOared in 4 voice not wholly I'M
musical,
Well hang old Corbin on a bamboo stick,
And We'll all reinlist p-d-q.
With creScendo effect on the last three
words and final roar that would have
been credit to a hungry bear. This was
the closing of a new addition to song
of 90 verses detailing the joys and tribu-
latl0nS OF campaigning III the L ulIlpIlHeS
and had been added to express the opIn-
ion the volunteers entertained of the Ad-
jutant- General of the army, who had said
the volunteers preferred the old Spring
field rifles to the kragS and would nearly
all reinlist. The chorus was taken up by
several hundred voices from all over the
camp, in various keys but with equal
fervor, all shouting at the top of their
voices,
baTN VOL ha
To the land of the brave and the home of
the free,
Where the oak and the ash and the vine
maple grow.
To h with Manila, and to Frisco We'll
go.
With special emphasis on the second
word of the last line. Having thus mott
fed the entire brigade that he was in his
usual spirits and ready for breakfast
Jolly Lucas turned off the road and Joined
the walters at the company kitchen. Soon
mess call was sounded, and the company
formed line and passed in turn before the
kitchen police, to receive the food ladled
out to them, and then each man sought
some dry spot on the ground where he
could sit down and eat in comfort. Break
fast had scarcely been finished. with the
usual left handed compliments to the cook
and remarks about the sun having shrunk
the bacon and the rain getting into the
coffee during the night when further
down the road, near the hut used for head
quarters, was raised the cry Of
''Maili Maili'
Instantly there was a stampede, and
the road in front of the shack occupied by
the Chaplain, who added the duties Of
postmaster to those of spiritual adviser of
the regiment, was congeSted with an eager
crowd, in which expressions of impotence
were mingled with humorous remarks
about the possible contents Of the dozen
sacks that had come in late the night be-
fore on the Quartermasters bull train"
The mail having been assorted by COM
panies, the crowd broke up and reassem-
bled in smaller groups about the quarters
of the various First Sergeants, gradually
dissolving as lunches of letters and papers
were handed out by the company clerks,
Among the few left standing when the
Sergeant announced the last was jolly.
whose face had worn an expression of
deep anxiety and suppressed hope. He
turned away dejectedly, and then with a
shrug of his shoulders turned back again,
opened a big bundle of home papers ad-
dressed to the company at large, selected
several, and departed. Finding an unoc-
cupied place on the shady side of a shack,
he sat down, braced his back against the
bamboo foundation and began to read.
Lying and sitting around him in all atti-
tudes, but all of them in the shade, as
even an early morning sun is uncomforta-
eagerly deyouring the news from home.
William Lucas was an ideal soldier of
the volunteer type. He possessed fine
physique, 4 strong constitution, a courage
that was almost reckless in its contempt
of danger, an eagerness to do his duty
fully in every particular, fine markham
ship, and irrepressible cheerfulness that
had won him the nickname of Jolly" and
a supreme contempt for those who COM
planned, except in a humorous way. He
DOked fun continuously at those who wrote
home letters complaining of their hard
Saips or Boosting of their achievements,
both Of which he knew to be highly
imaginative and grossly exaggerated. For
these he had created special organiZa-
ton called the Rough Writer'S" and
every time a man exploited himself in the
newspapers Lucas at once assigned him
to the new command, the worst liars being
given the highest commissions.
At times of late Jolly had almost for
feited his title by periods of depression
and abstraction, but he always emerged
from them with an effort of the will that
was allaost heroic, and established his
claim again beyond dispute. Yet all the
time anxiety and fear were gnawlng at
his heart. There was a girl at home who
had been responsible for much of his light
ness Of heart and was now responsible for
MI his depression.
When he left home for the war a year
son gOod-by, while tears of sorrow at
parting stood in her eyes. She had writ
ten him regularly by every transport un-
Ill the last three months, when suddenly
the letters ceased without any explanation.
For three months he had been tortured
with doubts as to the meaning of the
change, and had gone to each distribution
of the mail with renewed hope and de-
parted with fresh disappointment. He
imagined all sorts of things and chafed at
the conditions which rendered any dis
coYery of the reason for the stOppage of
his letters impossible. He still had a
lingering confidence it would turn out all
right, but no mans egotism is proof
against the fear that the woman he loves
may find someone more pleasing to her
than himself. These doubts were in full
possession of him now as he read the pa
pers, but he tried TO shake them off by
making running comments on the news TO
his uuappreciatiYe audience. Finally he
broke out with little more force than
usual:
well, see about n dozen OF you fel
lows have qualified for the Rough
Writers" this trip. Wen have to make
battalion pretty soon. | say, Bill, when
was it we had that rotten beef you wrote
about"
We'll, you didn't like it either"
''No more didn't, but that didn't make
me write home lies about it. How about
that canned horse, jimmy