The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-04-07
THEIR GREAT GOOD LUCK.
BY LEO CRANE.

Copyrighted, 1903, by Robert Howard
Russell.)
V~alesburgh sat squat upon the main
line Of the railroad, ugly and hunger
lean, as a half starved toad upon the
pathway OF a fair garden. Despite
men were sheltered within the d%efences
of the town, determined men were
haunting the banks of a stream that
trailed sluggishly around one half the
place. Those in the open were not 50
comfortable as those behind the earth
works, but they We're all selfish and
neither party wished to share one
morsel of the railroad, upon which
Valesburgh squatted, with anyone.
Like two angry dogs they heard each
other, worrying over the same bone.
L ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS a GA oaooo
One morning, having decided upon
something definite, straight across the
muddy bottom Of the stream r
one party TO the attack, crashing
through the alders and clinging water
plants. They wrested for their own a
slender clump of pines guarding the
meadow that stretched between the
stream and the town. Behind that
frail screen they uickly threw UP a
shield of earth, n despite a-protest
of shot and shell, chung to their posi-.
ton as a weakened fly clings to a wall
when the wind swirls up the dust.
At the end of two weeks the fight
ing men yet faced each other, but all
other living things had fled from the
meadowland. The croaking frogs
thnt bod sumo at nJOhf whom tho frnC
were lighted no longer chanted discor-
dainty; the grey old hawk, a thing as
fierce and brutal as themselves, had de-
serted his nest in the talleSt tree, and
had flown south after rasping his
curses on them from the heavens. The
places, and what had once been messy
banks decorated with the prettiest of
wild flowers, was now a waste of SOggy
earth, turned up NJ thrown from the
trenches, at once the blossoms death-
plague and their grave. a new thing
stretched its gaunt n vulgar neck
from their former PARADISE long line
of mound and bitches, bending this
way and that, reaching its greedy feel
ers into the meadows green level-a
thing born of the shovel.
So the smell of fresh earth Wed for
a time with the pitiful fragrance Of
crushed flowers.
" - AooA 'NShS AicAt DSS1SN ~
tonously, the mammoth worm of con-
struction had squi-med its way almost
to the breast Of its opponent-the beast
that guarded the town. Twice had a
horde of yelling men rushed from the
others nav 10 crush the creature and
to strange it's creators. But both
times they had been driven back hast
lily. leaving here and there a monu-
mental dot to picture at once their
failure and its cost. And so near were
the monsters at the end of this fourth
week; that the swapping of a twig, the
scattering of a bit of sand, the rattle
of a looSened stone, could be heard
plainly within the belly of either.
One night, when all about the fires
cleaned as the gems of q WondrOuS
ring, but two men were left at the far
thest angle Of the attacking trench. 1t
was very quiet. These two men could
family hear the whispered conversa-
ton of those they knew to be their
enemies, hidden in the trench that
curiously seemed to embrace their own.
Fol- awhile they listened and tried to
puzzle out the Finding that
impossible, they began to recite their
own woes.
IT'S growing late" said one, hud-
ding down close to the damp earth and
shivering. This place is so lonely and
creepy that it reminds me Of the old
ehurchyard at home"
WELL" said his companion dryly,
This yer trench is a pretty snug
dirt, and there ye'd be. And them
rebels would be mighty glad to play
sexton. . ="
Hush" called the first one, 4 don't
believe in going too far with a thing of
that sort-there's too many dead men
hereabouts already. It's getting colder
every minute. Wish l could have stay
a1 in that NASTY nice raoimant from
New York-they're down to New Or
leans by this time where it amt so
beastly damp and cold"
II never could understand why in
all nation We did ave EN-" remark
ed the other. busily blowing int his
clasped hands.
Fact is. I had to. They were a
selfish lot. l wasn't asking no job as
soldier, but along they comes and
picks me right out of private life one
day, outer sort of genteel o~bscurity.
where I was living on the little that I
could pick out. -
What were We picking?" asked the
tall man Soberly, "RagS?"
Pockets" laconically answered the
other.
"Oh, that's why your colonel of the
nasty nice regiment was so earnest
When he spoke of We as a thoroughly
honest man."
MeDDe so. dSSSDCeu the IrSl SOlulel
solemnly. "A man can't change his
entire mode of life simply cause there's
a war in the land. car he? No, Of
course not. But them fellars We're so
selfish. I only took n fancy to a chaps
boots. having drifted to larger and
coarser things from necessity, We know,
when they arose up in their indigna-
ton. I was transferred to this swarm
of pigs. :"
Pigs" mildly queried the tall man.
Pigs and paupers," snarled the 9th
err.
I'm so glad We allow me to take my
CHOICE responded the tall n
q didn't mean anything.
Gurgle-gurgle-gurgle.
whats that?' said the tall soldier,
getting upon his knee quickly and ner-
vously reaching for his gun. They both
| peered cautiously around a slight
mound of the ~earthworks. and each
held his breath as if he had heard the
shuff1ed march of a band of ghosts.
That's for talking lightly about sex