me to
me that Christmas night, and why it kept calling to me every night, and
what it said. I know it now. The work is done, and I am content. Tell
father it is better as it is. I should have lived only to worry and
perplex him, and something in me tells me this is right.'

"He lay still for a moment, and then, grasping my hand, said,--

"'Hark!'

"I listened, but heard nothing but the suppressed moans of the wounded
men around me. 'The drum,' he said faintly; 'don't you hear it? The drum
is calling me.'

"He reached out his arm to where it lay, as though he would embrace it.

"'Listen,' he went on, 'it's the reveille. There are the ranks drawn
up in review. Don't you see the sunlight flash down the long line of
bayonets? Their faces are shining,--they present arms,--there comes the
General; but his face I cannot look at, for the glory round his head. He
sees me; he smiles, it is--" And with a name upon his lips that he had
learned long ago, he stretched himself wearily upon the planks, and lay
quite still.

"That's all. No questions now; never mind what became of the drum. Who's
that snivelling? Bless my soul, where's my pill-box?"

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mrs. Skaggs's Husbands and Other
Stories, by Bret Harte

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