Trooper Tales — page 124: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

112 A Soldier of Misfortune. too clumsy of speech to speak what was in him. Gradu- ally in the cavalryman’s brain the secret grew. It impart- ed a sensation, which the lonely trooper never dreamed would come to him. For Duffie knew he was not hand- some to look upon. It made him feel less of a drunkard and more of aman. It made him hate the service in time of peace—a woman’s influence has done this ever since armies have been. In short, this secret buoyed up to sur- face water all the brighter, better elements in Duffie’s nature. And Senorita Euphrasie saw the brighter side, knew that it was for her—and was a very happy little maiden. Meanwhile Duffie’s halting tongue struggled with Spanish expressions, but her eyes told Euphrasie more which she wanted to know; and in her turn, Euphrasie repeated English words from the cavalryman’s lips— words which those lips had never uttered before. And the day drew nearer which would end Duffie’s “soldier- ing’’ forever. The one desire of the discharged trooper as he descend- ed the trail into Corizel—apart from the will and pleasure of Senorita Euphrasie—was to see once more his native land. This is the heart’s desire of every trooper and in- fantryman in Porto Rico to-day! That afternoon, when for the first time in three years he was a free man, Duffie told the Corizel maiden of the wonderful land over the sea, of the great cities, and of the white, frozen showers which fall in the Northland. He told her of his old mother who would love her, even as she loved her son. ECOmMIiGdooksico