Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-29


sponsible and mischievouS schoolboy.
There was nothing now for Gallagher to
do but to wait until the men went beyond
bounds and then to repreSs them with a
prompt show of authority.
He waited
In the meantime. from sleight- of hand and
coin-swallowing, Brunton had gone to up
roariouS fooery; he had badgered the con-
temptuous Donnelly until Long Tom" had
gene downstairs in disgust to look after the
horses; and he proposed, now, that he
should startle Donnelly by sliding down the
hay chute to him, from the store room to
the ground floor feet first His audience
did not suppose that he would dare to do it,
and encouraged him jocularly, until--in the
lace OF PINS warning that he would either
stick in the walls and smother or drop down
the two stories and break his Iegs-he got
into the chute, cried Here goes nuthin' :"
and disappeared.
The crazy daredeviltry Of it left the men
standing snickering guilty at one another
"Gad!' PIN said. Wed better get down
an get a hearse." And they swarmed down
the sliding poles after him to the ground
floor.
They were met by DonneIly. who came
running to the stairs with the expression of
a man who has seen insanity. Behind him
came Brunton. covered with the dust of the
chute, his shirt sleeves torn at the elbows
and his fingers cut. III fix yuh," he was
saying. TN cut yer heart out Crazy. am
L? By Crickey Mike, I'll fix yuh Crazy,
am l? I'll blow yer brains out. By Crickey
NJ
He winked at the men and went after
Donnely, muttering crafty. And the crew
lodged behind the truck and struggled with
the agonies of their unreleved laughter,
bent double, or leaning helplessy against
the wall choking and shaking in silent con-
vulsions.
Donnelly burst In on the lieutenant with
a sputteringly excited account of the affair;
and Gallagher heard him out without COM
ment. Il can't interfere the lieutenant
said. GO0Redly las a he
thing against the rules can call him down.
But l can't until he does. Leave him alone.
Keep away from him..
We'll, I'm tryfn' to keep away from him"
Donnelly protested IAN he's chasin' me
all over the place"
The lieutenant took up his newspaper II
| can't help It," he repeated. You'll have to
fix 1t up between yourselves"
Donnelly went back to his persecution,
and 1t proceeded in a conspiracy of silence
which all the men joined. 1t endured with
out official notice until Capt. Meaghan had
returned and the lieutenant was already
congratulating himself on the end of the
trouble when Donnelly came back in des-
peration to the office to report that Brun-
ton was threatening to shoot him. Hes
craZyi' he insisted Hes crazy! An he's
got gun in his clothes at that. He's
craZyr
Capt Meaghan, taken unawares, glared
at him in establishment
Gallagher asked: Did you see the gun %
You ask Pim," Donnelly cried. He saw
| 1t. He toll me-
PINS playing you, I guess" the lieuten-
| ant said.
The captain found his voice to demand
| suddenly: who's crazy?'
"Brunton is!'' Donnelly answered. PIN
! toll me"
Capt. Meaghan leaned forward at him.
graspng the arms of his chair. "Yo go n
mind yer own bus ness, see?" he said.
''Yuh're pinhead. That's all that's wrong
| with you. Yuh're no good It'd take a
| whole crew of you, an a battalion chief, TO
make man like Brunton. You get out of
| here an shut yer holler.'
Donnelly swallowed and made as If to
| speak
shut up-an get OUT" Meaghan ordered,
| in a voice that fairly blew Long Tom
backward out of the door.
BLAMED yellow cur the captain NUT
| tered Comm round here with a whine
| like that"
| Lieut. Gallagher did not reply And for
| the rest of the day Donnelly suffered dumb
| ly organized persecution that allowed no
| echo of Brunton's horseplay to reach the
| office.
But at Ii O'Clock that night-when peace
! seemed to have settled down with darkness
| on the house and the bunk room was as
| quiet as a nursery asleep. and there was
| not so much a snore to disturb the dimly
| lit repose Of the hypocrites in their white
! cots-a shot exploded on the stiffness with
| a stab of fame and a deafening echo. A
| scream of terror walled up after it. hor-
| TlDIy SDTl1. a roar OF laughter 1OItOWeu IN
| tremendous guffaw and rose in the half
| light with volume that shook the walls.
| The captains door flew open before a bray
of anger. Donnelly, croGching in the aisle
| between the cots, greeted him with an in
| dignant He s tryfn' to ass-ass-inate mei'
| And the room rang with the haw-haws of
| the men. who could no longer struggle with
| the commissions that shook and twisted
/ them as If they had all been taken with fits.
| Capt. Meaghan shouted at them in vain
! until the lieutenant turned up the gas jets
| on the pandemonium, and the men, sur
| prised by the light. smothered themselves
| In their pillows and choked down their
| laughter to suppressed and spasmodic
| snorting and ,grunting. The captain-stand-
| ing in the doorway in his underclothes his
| gray hair tousled from the pillow-swore at
| them in wrathful bewilderment. Long
| Tom Donnelly stammered unintelligibly
| and pointed at Brunton; and Brunton, sit
| ting up'in his bed, stared in the widest be-
| wilderment
''Wha-what's up?" he asked.
| At that innocent inquiry Sergt PIN rolled
| out of his bed in his blankets and writhed
| helplessly on the floor, drumming with his
| heels on the linoleum. Brunton looked
around at him and blinked.
who fired that?' Capt. Meaghan cried.
| ''He-e-e did" Donnelly screamed. 81 seen
him. l watchin him. He's been threat
| enin'-"
! shut up!' Meaghan ordered.
| He bore down on Brunton with his hands
| clenched.
| did yuh?"
| Brunton shook his head, open-mouthed.
| mo" he said. II was asleep. l. He
| looked about him at the men, shaking I'M
! der their bedclothes. Whats the matter?'
| he asked. mildly.
| Sergt. PIN. the floor squealed in an
| other spasm, and the men, who had been
| holding themselves In to listen. went off
| again into Mysteries as If they had been a
| class of boarding-school girls Meaghan
| leaped around at them with the purple face
| of man on the verge of apoplexy; and he
| was still struggling with an oath that stuck
| in his throat when the "jigger" on the wall
/ clicked and struck.
If ii had been cry of "F'irei'' to O thea
/ ter audience roaring at farce, or warn
] Ing shot of outpost to a company of SOL
| diers singing around campfire, II could
not have made a more sudden silence. The
| men started up, on their elbows. The cap
| tain stopped with his hand In the air. drop
| ped 1t and turned. The bell changed out its
! swift strokes, and paused - and the men
| were out of their beds and kicking into their
| boots and trousers before 1t could complete
the alarm.
1 Sergt. PIN followed Brunton down the
| sliding pole and leaped with him to the
| truck. "Where'd yuh get the gum" the
| sergeant asked out of the corner Of his
mouth.