United States or South Africa ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Upon this someone exclaimed in a faltering, sobered tone: "Surely not?" As for the young fellow in the red shirt, he passed me by with a braggart, resentful shout of: "Well? He had no right to insult me. Why should he have said that I was a nuisance to the whole country?" And someone else shouted: "Where is the ex-soldier? Who is the watchman here?" "Bring a light," was the cry of a third.
"That is strange." "It is the safest plan, sir." "And who is driving now?" "Harding, sir, the ex-soldier, and whom, I may confidentially say, major, I have taken into my service, not as a scout, but as a spy, at Last Chance." "A fine fellow, but I fear he will be killed as driver on that trail." "I hope not, sir, and he has escaped splendidly through great dangers thus far."
Yet I had no great love for the ex-soldier. Somehow he jarred upon me. Middle-aged, squat, square, and bleached with the sun, he had faded eyes, flattened-out features, and an expression of restless moroseness. Never could I make out what he really wanted, what he was really seeking.
On the other hand, I am a desperate, mighty unhappy ex-soldier experiencing all of the delights of a bankrupt, with the exception of an introduction to the referee in bankruptcy. I'm whipped. Who cares what becomes of me? Not a soul on earth except Pablo and Carolina and they, poor creatures, are dependent upon me.
The foreman of the carpenters shaded his eyes to gaze in our direction; and as he did so, he drawled and rasped out in tedious fashion: "Some shall to the left be sent, And in the pit of Hell lie pent. While others, holding palm in hand, Shall on God's right take up their stand." "DID you hear that?" the ex-soldier growled through clenched teeth. "'Palm in hand' indeed!
I repeat that for the protection of our comfort and our bank-roll we declared war, and anybody who tells you otherwise isn't doing his own thinking, he isn't honest with himself, and he's the sort of citizen who is letting the country go to the dogs because he refuses to take an intelligent interest in its affairs." "What a perfectly amazing speech from an ex-soldier!" Kay protested.
He seemed to be feeling both astonished at and grieved for his companion. The other, however, did not reply; and after a few moments the ex-soldier softly concluded: "So now you have heard my story."
We moved to the parlor; Sophronia took the lounge, while I found the floor a little harder than I supposed an ex-soldier could ever find any plane surface. It did not take me long, however, to learn that the parlor-floor was not a plane surface. It contained a great many small elevations which kept me awake for the remainder of the night, wondering what they could be.
At the same time I stooped on my knees and grasped the man's two wrists; because we were taking no chances of his gun. Lynch, the ex-soldier, had a cloth, taken from the big table, and he flung this over the head of the "pacifist" and stifled his cries. I took a revolver from his hip-pocket, but Joe was not satisfied.
And the ex-soldier, as he repeated the words, spoke both as though he were an expert in the matter and as though he felt for the matter a touch of respect. Then, lurching forward like a man pushed by the scruff of the neck, he crossed the rivulet, intercepted the crowd, and became swallowed up in its midst.
Word Of The Day