Heppner gazette. [volume] (Heppner, Morrow County, Or.) 1892-1912, 1910-09-08

don't propose to be treated like baby
want to know what have done tC
offend you"
You will pardon me If sit down
Captain Pollock"-and Merriam drag
ged a chair forward and sank into it
while Pollock remained standing and
ed from me by buster You are in my
house. by your own invitation"
Quite so! There was no other way
of seeing you. l did not care to stop
you in the street. and you have already
made 1t impossible for me to speak &c
you in your club. l hope this explana
tion is satisfactory"
Entirely. Pray have a seat, to obllge
me-"
Pollock sat down reluctantly. The
house was very quiet; 1t was hot day
and the air In the room was tense.
Captain" said the old gentleman
quietly, with his black eyes resting
kindly on the visitor, Il regret very
much that you have come to me with
this question-because you have never
In the world done anything to offend
me-not in the slightest. AS far as
know, you are gentleman beyond any
question, and worthy of the highest
consideration in all places"
Then, sir"
please wait! I regret very much
that l should have led by a feeling,
which l should prefer not to explain,
into treating you discourteously. A
man of my age should have better con-
troll of himself-better manners, If You
will. l should very much prefer to dis
miss this matter. AS l have said,
have no grievance against you person
ally. l am perfectly willing to apollo
gize and to meet you in a friendly spir-
it. To repeat. I have let an old preju-
dice get the better of my good sense.
trust this will be satisfactory"
Not a bit of 1t. sir" snapped Pol
lock. with fresh asperity. IF you
haven't anything against me personal
ly, 1 should like to know what you ire
limiting about so darkly. Your air Is
insufferable! We may as we'll go to
the bottom Of this now and here. I'm
not a child, as have said before!"
My dear sir. I trust that 1t win be
quite enough to say that your name Is
one that is associated with an un
pleasant incident in my life. 1t doesn't
concern you at all. 1t was a matter
between your father and myself"
Il don't suppose you ever saw my
father in your life. He's been dead f1f-
teen years!"
Quite that" said the colonel Il
could, from my papers here, give you
the exact date If 1t were important
w. Ro+bar ora tryara rovvaauyho.Y ~.
Misunderstanding the Civil War-and
the recollection is unpleasant I beg
you to drop the matter. l am an old
man.
you are mad. you are perfectly
mad!" declared Pollock. his voice ring
ing out in the room. You not only
insult me, but you drag my dead father
into this romance. If you didn't like
my seeing your nieces, why didn't you
say so In a straight manly way and
not invent a lot OF fanciful tales to
back you up? It's wholly possible that
YOU knew my father. He was a man Of
honor! His name Is a good one in his
own State. am proud of 1t. And 1t
ought to count something for me that
l am an officer In the army that he
fought against would warn you, sir,
that my fathers name is a sacred thing
to mel"
I'm sure that is so, Captain Pol
lock. And that's why l beg of you to
accept an apology and let me alone"
UNLESS you want to be branded as
liar. you will tell me what this is be-
for / leave the house. There's a place
where a mans age ceases to be his
protection"
please be seated, and don't, I beg
of YOU. alarm the servants. I'm going
to tell you what this trouble Is, and
before begin I want to apologize for
doing so. And when l flnish-it will
take but a momentum going to apoI-
ogize to you again. am so years old,
Captain Pollock, and l don't remember
that I ever apologized to any one be-
fore. The most comfortable thing a
man can have Is a bad memory. NV
trouble is that never forget anything.
It was after we had captured DoneI-
son. 1 had been sent back here to Ma
riona, my home, on an errand to the
Governor, who was having a time of
1t, lighting Copperheads and getting
troops into the field. The old railway
station down here was a horrible sight
the night the Donelson prisoners were
brought in. Many Of them were sick
and they were taken from the cars and
laid out on the floor until they could
be carried to Camp Burnside, which
had been turned into a rebel prison.
Il was down looking over the prison.
ers when I struck a little chap who
was badly used up. He said his name
was Hamilton. He was a Confederate
private. but evidently a man of educa-
ton and breeding. He was on fire with
fever, and the whole situation at the
station was so forbidding that I got
permission to take him to my fathers
house. That's where Mr.. Dameron
lives now. The officer in charge Of
the prisoners was a friend OF mine;
and when he let me take Hamilton
away, as a favor 1 gave my personal
pledge that he should be delivered at
the prison whenever they wanted him.
AT home we took fancy to Hamil-
ton. He was up and about the house
In a couple Of weeks. l gave him some
Of my civilian clothes so that he could
go down into town. There seemed to
be nothing unusual about him. He was
a forlorn young fellow-a prisoner. far
from home. and my father and the rest
Of them at the house liked him. We
used to call him our little rebel.
"One day the commandant at the
prison sent a guard TO the house to ar
rest Hamilton. but he had disappeared.
We learned then that he was all kinds
Of a bad lot-a dangerous spy who had
49,