Argosy, Vol. 1 (December 9, 1882) — page 175: what you’re looking at

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

168 THE ARGOSY. mother and father, and Alice and I. Mrs. and Mr. Davis immediately put Harrison to bed and sent for the doctor, and Alice broke down and I had to take her home, and on the way she told me in the strictest confidence how much she thought of Harry and what made her cry was the way he looked. It wasn’t typhoid, so the doctor said, nor it wasn’t this kind of a fever or that. All the information that I could get from the medico was of a negative nature. I’m positive, however, that I know what ailed Harry. He had nothing less than common or garden horse fever. Perhaps that disease isn’t known in the medical books, but that’s what he had. The first thing he said to me after he came up from the South was about that horse of his. He must have been out of his head at the time, for as soon as he had said: “ Hello, Carter, old chap, how are you?” he began: “ Say, you ought to see my horse. His name’s ‘ Santy,’ after the battle of Santiago, you know. I got him on the same day we heard of the victory. He's a fine looking bay. Not a blemish on him except a nick in his off ear.” Oh, visions of horses! Oh, nights replete with nightmares! How those words are indelibly branded upon my soul. “A bay with a nick in his off ear!” CanT ever forget them? ‘“ Never,” the answer comes down through the future. What if I do go to Turkey. I can’t erase the memory of that horse Santy, the most expensive and the last Christmas present I eve give to a human being while I live. Harrison wasn’t so ill at first that he couldn’t see Alice and me. I used to call at Miss Stafford’s house every evening, and we would walk around to the Davises’ and sit with Harrison for a while. To have Alice with him seemed to brace him up immensely. I had an idea that they had come to some sort of an understanding before Harry went away, but that didn’t bother me in the least. Alice Stafford is a dear, sweet girl and will make just the wife for my chum, and I am not the least bit jealous. But everything that he would talk about was that horse. He would count the days till he would be back in camp and could see Santy. I really think he forgot all about the honor and glory cf wearing the government blue in the contemplation of seeing and riding that horse once more. And when his fever took a turn for the worse, and we all saw that Harry wouldnt be able to rejoin his regiment for many long months and possibly never— yes, the poor boy was awfully sick for a time—he talked of nothing but Santy in his delirtum. I never thought a person could love a brute as Harrison Davis cared for his horse. He wouldn’t take nourishment until the nurse had told him that Santy had been fed. Every night when the nurses changed they couldn't quiet the lad until they had assured him that his horse had been bedded down and given plenty of “ shorts,” or -vhatever is the evening equine diet. If I’d been Alice Stafford I would have been a little put out that Harry’s only thought was for a horse instead of me. Still, she’s an awfully sensible girl, and didn’t for a moment cease her attentions. She called at the Davises’ twice a day, and she didn’t make any bones about crying when Mrs. Davis would tell her that Harrison wasn’t doing as well as might be expected. It was about this time, when Harry was so dreadfully low, that his regt- GONG OOO UN ceo