Trooper Tales — page 58: what you’re looking at

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

50 The Degeneration of Laddie. other side, and then he fell down in the rain. This is the way he goes on with the story: “TI was groggy when I got up, and cold with the wind and wet. I knew that I had wandered from the trail be- tween the fifth and sixth fords, because I had struck deep water. I groped along the bank both ways, until I thought dawn must be near. I prayed that I would stum- ble upon the trail. “This extremity I would not have deemed necessary, if I was only to be hung for missing reveille, but I would get a call-down from four different parties besides. This thought kept me on my feet. At last I walked away from the river and got tangled up in a barbed wire fence. The heavens did not give forth a ray, and it rained on. Following the fence to the left, it led me back to the river. I shuddered. There was still one more chance—to go the other way with the wires. This I did, and to my ears was borne a sweet sound. When I had wrung the water out of my eyes, I also saw a sweet sight. A dog barked and a shadowy shack loomed up before me. “I knew I would get shot at for a guerrilla, if I stole up, because the dog was making announcements. I vented Spanish, therefore, in a loud voice and at a dis- tance: “*Americano soldato! Americano soldato!’ I threw in some English to make a hit, and the rear door opened a couple of inches. “Tengo muchas penas, senor,’ I wailed, all of which means that I was an American sol- dier of many sorrows, (COMME NOVO KS, (eC)