The National tribune., 1904-07-28
TWO RENEGADES.
An Episode Of Colombian Revolutions With nterposon Of
the Late Southern Confederacy.
By O. HENRY.

Resides his other liabilities. Doc could
could play flute for minute or two. He
was guilty of two tunes-'DiXie' and an
other one that was mighty close to the
'Suwanee River-you might say one of
its tributaries. He used to come down
and sit with me while was getting WE'LL
and aggrieve his flute and say unrecon-
structed things about the North. You'd
have thought the smoke from the first gun
at Fort Sumter was still floating around
in the air.
You know that was about the time
they staged them property revolutions
down there. that wound up in the fifth act
with the thrilling canal scene where Uncle
Sam has nine curtain-calls holding Miss
Panama by the hand. while the blood
hounds keep Senator Morgan freed up in a
cOcoanut-palm.
That's the way it wound up; but at
first it seemed as if Colombia was going
TO make Panama look like one of the $39S
kind with dents made in it in the factory,
like they wear at North Beach fish fries
For mine. / played the straw-hat crowd to
win; and they gave me Colonel's commits
sion over a brigade of p men in the left
wing and second joint Of the insurgent
army.
1.-The Colombian troops were awfully
rnde to us. One day when l had my
brigade in sandy spot. with it's shoes off
doing a battalion drill by squads, the Gov
eminent army rushed from behind bush
at us, acting as noisy and disagreeable as
they could.
MY troops enfiaded. lcft-faced, and left
the spot. After enticing the enemy for
three miles or so we struck a brier-patch
and had to sit down. When we were or
dered to throw up our toes and surrender
we obeyed. Five of my best staff-offcers
fell. suffering extremely with stone
bruised heels.
Then and there those Colombians tool,
your friend Barney, sir, stripped him of
the insignia of his rank, consisting of Il
pair of brass knuckles and canteen of
rum, and dragged him before q military
court. The presiding General went
through the usual legal formalities that
sometimes cause case to hang on the cal
endar of n South American military court
as long as 10 minutes. He asked me my
age. and then sentenced me to be shot.
'"They woke up the court interpreter. an
American named jerks. who was in the
rum business and vice versa, and told him
to translate the verdict.
jenkins stretched himself and took n
morphine tablet.
"'You've got to back up against the
'dobe, old man., says he to me. Three
weeks, l believe. you get Haven't got u
chew of fne-cur OH You. have youT
Translate that again, with foot-notes
and glossary. says |. Il don't know
whether I'm discharged, condemned, or
handed over to the Gerry Society
"'Oh,' says jerks, don't you under
stand? You're to be stood up against a
'dobe wall and shot in two or three weeks
three, / think, they said
would you mind asking 'em which 2
says !. A week don't amount to much
| after you are dead, but it seems a real nice
long spell while you are alive
Its two weeks says the interpreter,
after inquiring in Spanish Of the court.
Shall ask 'em again!'
LET be- says l. Let's have a sta
tionary verdict. If / keep on appealing
this way they'll have me shot about 10
days before was captured. No, haven't
got any fine-cut.'
They sends me over to the calaboza
with detachment of colored postal-tee-
graph boys carrying Enfield rifles, and
am locked up in kind of brick bakery.
The temperature in there was just about
the kind mentioned in the cooking recipes
that call for quick oven