Trooper Tales — page 60: what you’re looking at

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

52 The Degeneration of Laddie. Laddie reached the summit. Ciales stood out upon © the cliffs a mile and a half away. And from the tiny vil- lage over the rocks and hills there was borne the first call a soldier hears in the morning, the cheery reveille. Poor Laddie groaned. He did not hurry after that. The troopers were at breakfast when he reached the quarters. The top-sergeant met him with certain phrases of English which would look strange if reproduced, and then went with him to the commanding officer. The cap- tain told Laddie, among other things, that he was a dis- grace to his country, and ordered him locked up. The prisoner wearily moved his bunk over to the Spanish jail, and rested all the rest of the day. Then he commenced to think. That evening when Kruger, a Hoosier recruit, brought Laddie’s supper over to the jail, he found that the prisoner had become solid with the Spanish policemen already—solid to such an extent that they had allowed him to stroll in the plaza and watch the sunset. It is pretty to see the sun sink beyond the mountains away up there in Ciales. And Kruger, the Hoosier recruit, told the top-sergeant how solid Laddie was with the Spanish policemen—all of which caused the top to be very angry and much trouble for the prisoner. The latter spent the night in thought. Se me See oat ee ek On the morning of the second day after this, they found that Laddie’s bunk was empty, except for the fol- lowing letter, which was characteristic: Comilcbisooks (S@)