The Yale expositor., 1920-10-07
CHAPTER VIII.
The Coming Of the Cutter.

never felt quite the same to our
ledger after that little business at the
petitioner. II was always in my
mind that he was holding a secret
from me; indeed, that he was all a
secret together seing that. he always
hung a veil over his past.
And when by chance that veil was
Tor an instant whisked away we al
ways caught just a glimpse OF some
thing bloody and violent and dreadful
upon the other side. The very look ~
his body was terrible. l bathed with
him once in the summer, and I saw
then that he was haggled with wounds
all over. Besides seven or eight slashes
his ribs on Oneaside were twisted out
of shape and a part of one Of his
calves had been torn away. He laughed
in his merry way when he saw my face
of wonder.
"Cossacks Cossucks :" said he, run
ming his hand over his scars. "And the
ribs were broke by an artillery tum
bril-. 1t is very bad to have the guns
pass over one. Now with cavalry IL is
nothing. A horse will pick It's steps.
however fast it may go. have been
ridden over by fifteen hundred cuiras.
siers and by the Russian hussars OF
GrodnO, and had no harm from that
But guns are very bad"
"And the calf?" / asked
Pooh 1t is only a wolf bite" said
he. you would not think how came
by 1t You will understand that my
horse and had been struck, the horse
killed, and with my ribs broken by
the tumbril. Well, 1t was cOld-oh
bitter bitter THE ground like iron
and no one to. help the wounded, so
that they froze into such shapes as
would make you smile. /, too, felt that
j was freezing so what did do? ]
took my sword and / opened my dead
horse, so well as 1 could, and l made
space in him for me to lie, with one
little hole for my mouth. Saprlsti! II
was warm enough there. But there
was not room for the entire of me, 9,
my feet and part of my legs stuck out
Then in the night, when l slept ther'
came the wolves TO eat the horse, and
they had q little pinch of me also, as
you can see; but after that was or
guard with my pistols, and they had
no more of me. There l lived yer,
warm and nice, for ten days."
'STen days." i cried. "What did you
eat?"
"Why. ! ate the horse. II was wha'
you call board and lodging to me- But
Of course 1 have sense to eat the legs
and live in the body. There were
many dead about who had their water
bottles, so had all I could wish. And
on the eleventh day there came q pa
troll of light cavalry, and all was WE'LL"
1t was by such chance chats as
these-hardly worth repeating IN them
selves-that there came light upon
himself and his past. But the day was
coming when we should know all, and
how ii came / shall try now 10 tell
you.
The winter had been a dreary
one, but with March came the first
signs of spring. and for a week on
end we had sunshine and winds
from the south. On the seventh Jim
Horscroft was to come back from
Edinburgh, for though the session end.
ed with the first. his examination
would take him a week. Edie and ]
were out walking on the sea beach on
the sixth, and l could talk of nothing
but my old friend, for, indeed, he was
the only friend of my own age that
had at that time. Edie was very ST.
lent, which was rare thing with her,
but she listened, smiling, to all that
/ had to say.
"Poor old JIM" said she, once or
twice, under her. breath. Poor old
Jim I"