Trooper Tales — page 128: what you’re looking at

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

T16 A Soldier of Misfortune. Yes, they were rough and uneducated, lots of them, but they were Americans and soldiers; and they had heard what the women up on the bridge had told the master of the ship. - In the forward hold the men cursed carelessly and without restraint, cursed and gambled and sang soldier songs ; but in the rear, where Euphrasie was, they walked on tip-toe and talked in whispers while she slept. And the ex-cavalryman who loved her, thanked his fellows one and all with his eyes. The Porto Rican maiden was not among gentlemen—they were all upon the saloon deck with their ladies. Etuphrasie’s companions were only a lot of common men from the ranks. * . ** * xk * * Everybody knows what a winter gale off Hatteras is. The most treacherous bit of sea water on the Atlantic lies here. Vessels from tropical isles veer hundreds of miles seaward to avoid the Northern Carolina gales, and those who have lived long under a torrid sun shrink from the first blast of winter. Up on the bridge and saloon decks the American ladies, wrapped in furs, emerged from their state-rooms and set their faces toward the icy winds. And Euphrasie in her summer gowns shivered and coughed down in the chilly hold. Duffie would tell her that there was no winter in the great Southwest where his home was. And the dark, dreamy eyes of the Corizel maiden would grow wondrous bright when she heard her husband tell of his old mother, who would love her, and of the little store they would CONNIE HOOKS,(EC)