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I made feign to be far gone in dhrink, an', wan by wan, all my roomful came in wid Vulmea. I wint away, walkin' thick an' heavy, but not so thick an' heavy that any wan cud ha' tuk me. Sure and thrue, there was a kyartridge gone from my pouch an' lyin' snug in my rifle. I was hot wid rage against thim all, an' I worried the bullet out wid my teeth as fast as I cud, the room bein' empty.
"I did not," sez Vulmea; "I was shootin' mesilf." "That's quare," sez O'Hara, "for the front av my jackut is black wid your powther." He tuk up the rifle that was still warm an' began to laugh. "I'll make your life Hell to you," sez he, "for attempted murdher an' kapin' your rifle onproperly. You'll be hanged first an' thin put undher stoppages for four fifteen. The rifle's done for," sez he.
"Quick ut is," sez Kiss, t'rowin' him the kyard; an' ut fell face up on his knee Black Jack! 'Thin they all cackled wid laughin'. "Duty thrippence," sez wan av thim, "an' damned cheap at that price!" But I cud see they all dhrew a little away from Vulmea an' lef' him sittin' playin' wid the kyard. Vulmea sez no word for a whoile but licked his lips cat-ways.
"'Deal on! sez Vulmea, wid a big rattlin' oath, 'an' the Black Curse av Shielygh come to the man that will not do his duty as the kyards say. Amin! "'Black Jack is the masther, sez Kiss, dealin'. 'Black Jack, sorr, I shud expaytiate to you, is the Ace av Shpades which from time immimorial has been intimately connect wid battle, murdher an' suddin death.
The first issues of the 'Tinis was not covered in, an' I mesilf have eased the pull av mine time an' agin. A light pull is ten points on the range to me. "'I will not have this foolishness! sez the Colonel, 'I will twist the tail off Vulmea! sez he; but whin he saw him, all tied up an' groanin' in hospital, he changed his will.
Wan day, howiver, he tuk me apart very polite, for he cud be that at the choosin'. "You're a good sodger, tho' you're a damned insolint man," sez he. "Fair words, Sargint," sez I, "or I may be insolint again." "'Tis not like you," sez he, "to lave your rifle in the rack widout the breech-pin, for widout the breech-pin she was whin Vulmea fired.
"Next morn the news was through all the rig'mint, an' there was nothin' that the men did not tell. O'Hara reports, fair an' easy, that Vulmea was come to grief through tamperin' wid his rifle in barricks, all for to show the mechanism. An' by my sowl, he had the impart'nince to say that he was on the sphot at the time an' cud certify that ut was an accidint!
I cud see O'Hara in the light av the veranda lamp, an' thin I heard the crack av my rifle. She cried loud, poor darlint, bein' mishandled. Next minut' five men were houldin' me down. "Go easy," I sez; "fwhat's ut all about?" 'Thin Vulmea, on the flure, raised a howl you cud hear from wan ind av cantonmints to the other. "I'm dead, I'm butchered, I'm blind!" sez he.
Afther they was all gone, I wint back to Canteen an' called for a quart to put a thought in me. Vulmea was there, dhrinkin' heavy, an' politeful to me beyond reason. 'Fwhat will I do fwhat will I do? thinks I to mesilf whin Vulmea wint away.
'Twas all in the way av fair fight, though, for niver did I raise my hand excipt whin they had provoked me to ut. "'Tis all well, sez wan av thim, 'but who's to do this shootin'? "'Fwhat matther? sez Vulmea. 'Tis Mulvaney will do that at the Coort-martial. "'He will so, sez the man, 'but whose hand is put to the trigger in the room?
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