but he won't wait with us; he's bad enough fer his.'

"So Buck takes John an' goes back ter the guard shack, as it's most time
fer relief, an' after I got back we told John ter git the hook, an' we
talked things over, an' Buck he was just wild ter see if he couldn't lay
that Chino ghost. His talents was achin' ter git action on him; anythin'
like that got up his spunk. Says I:

"'Maybe Ranch kin help. We'll tell him ter-morrer after guard mount.
It'll take his mind off Daggett.'

"'No, yer don't,' says Buck. 'Don't yer dare tell him. He's nervous as a
cat over the pup as it is, an' this spook business is awful skeery; I'm
feelin' woozy over it meself. I'm all off when it comes ter ghosts--that
is, if it's a real ghost. And things here in Pekin' is so funny the odds
is all in favor of its bein' the sure thing. I ain't afeard o' no kinds
o' people, but I sure git cold feet when I'm up against a ghost.
Wouldn't that jar youse? An' me a soldier; when it's a soldier's whole
business not ter _git_ cold feet. But I'm bound I'll have a show at that
ol' spook even if it _does_ skeer me out o' my growth. Only don't yer
dare tell Ranch.'

"Nex' night, right after eleven o'clock rounds, me an' Buck slipped
outer our blankets, sneaked out past the guard, an' met John, who was
waitin' fer us in the road jus' beyond where the last sentry woulder
seen him. It was cold as git out. Jus' the same kind o' early cold as
to-night, an' John's teeth was chatterin' like peas in a box--he was
some loco with skeer, too, you bet.

"'Which way?' says Buck, an' John spouts a lot o' dope-joint lingo an'
takes us up a side alley, where there's a whole bunch o' Chinos waitin'
fer us, an' they begun a kowtowin' an' goin' on like we was the whole
cheese. Turned out that John had jollied 'em that the Melican soldier
mans was big medicine an' would make Judge Ming quit the midnight hike
an' cut out scarin' 'em blue. That jus' suited Buck; he was all there
when it come ter play commander in chief. He swelled up an' give 'em a
bundle o' talk that John put in Chino fer 'em, an' then finished up by
showin' 'em a button--a ol' United States Army brass button he'd cut off
his blue blouse--an' tol' 'em he was goin' ter bury it in Ming's grave
so as ter keep him bedded down.

"An' them simple idiots was pleased ter death, an' the whole outfit
escorted us over ter the graveyard, but they shied at the gate (Lord, I
hated ter see 'em go--even if they _was_ heat