and powerful hot. We had been
fightin' like mad, wi' not a moment's rest, all
day, an' now at last wor under the canwas, they of
us as wor left alive, a tryin' to sleep. The
skeeters buzzed aroun' wonderful thick, and the
groun' aneath our feet wor like red-hot tin
plates, wi' the sun burnin' an blisterin' down. At
last my mate Bill says, says he, 'Jerry, my mate,
hang me ef I can stan' this any longer. Let you
an' me get up an' see ef it be cooler
out-o'-doors.'

"I wor tired enough wi' the day's fight, an'
worrited, too, wi' a wound in my shoulder; but
the tent wor no better nor the open field, an' we
got up an' went out. Thar wor no moon, but the sky
was wonderful full o' stars, so we could see how
we wor stannin' wi' our feet among the bodies o'
the poor fellows as had fired their last shot that
day. It wor a sight, young genl'men, what would
make sich as you sick an' faint to look on; but
sogers must larn not to min' it; an' we stood
thar, not thinkin' how awful it wor, and yet still
an' quiet, too.

"'Ah, Jerry,' says Bill--he wor a young lad, an'
brought up by a pious mother, I allow--'I dunnot
like this fightin' on the Sabba' day. The Lord
will not bless our arms, I'm afeard, if we go agin
His will so.'

"I laughed--more shame to me--an' said, 'I'm a
sight older nor you, mate, an' I've seed a sight
o' wictories got on a Sunday. The better the day,
the better the deed, I reckon.'

"'Well, I don't know,' he says; 'mebbe things is
allers mixed in time o' war, an' right an' wrong
change sides a' purpose to suit them as wants
battle an' tumult to be ragin'; but it don't go
wi' my grain, noways.'

"I hadn't experienced a change o' heart then, as I
did arterward, bless the Lord! an' I hardly
unnerstood what he said. While we wor a stannin'
there, all to onct too dark figgers kim a creepin'
over the field to'ard the Major's tent. 'Look
thar, Jerry,' whispered Bill, kind o' startin'
like, 'thar's some of them rascally Mexicans.' I
looked at 'em wi'out sayin' a wured, an' then